The Great Journey: The Way is Open
by endbrought
Summary: After the Betrayal, the long Night had two Champions. Their paths were ordained by Fate- one to madness and the other to a Great Journey across Time and Space. The first steps upon the Great Journey are difficult but the Path is clear.
1. Chapter 1

_Tenno. This will be your last mission under my guidance. Good luck._

The Lotus pauses for a moment as if to give her words time to sink in. There really is no need. I have long resigned myself to this journey's inevitable end. If humanity is to survive- no- if humanity is to have any chance of defeating the Sentients once again, the Tenno must be reactivated. The Betrayal was swift and brutal but our masters knew that our actions were inevitable. The corruption was too contagious for them to stop, too quick, too mutable, and far **far** too ingrained in the Warframes that they crafted for us. In the end, they knew that they too would fall to the Sentients but… they gave us a chance. Just one. Dragged kicking and screaming, our brothers and sisters were forced into their cryopods; there, with their Warframes inactivated and stripped they could be given immunity to the Sentients' final weapon. Only I and Lerak remain.

_This Tower holds the activation sequence for all the cryopods holding your order in stasis. When it is activated, your family will awaken; they cannot see or recognize you. You know what to do. Go._

Lerak quietly slips his bow from his back. Rarely does he let his helmet show his true face but when he turns to look at me I can see him looking at me in quiet pleading through the temporarily transparent metal. He took the loss of his wife so hard. She was not immune like he and I are. It is the greatest irony that the woman that the Order considers our finest doctor was so easily conquered by a virus. He has not smiled since the Betrayal; now, he is smiling silently but I can see the tears streaming down his face.

His helmet speakers click on and he speaks, "It has been an honor serving with you, my friend. When we reach the Citadel, it would do me great honor to give my life and my frame to Wakening. Please... let me rest..."

He does not need me to change my own helmet. I am well aware that he knows exactly what he is asking of me, what I would be condemned to bear. In the century we have worked to bring our brothers and sisters back from their sleep we have not discussed the final step; the last act of this great journey is nothing less than the willing sacrifice of a Warframe- and its Operator. He knows that I will be alone for the rest of my life. It is an anguish that we both know I could survive, after all, I'd already survived it before. He could not. It would utterly destroy him if he had to remain behind, forever haunted that his wife is so close and yet so far... she will not remember him. She cannot ever be his wife again.

I bow my head for a moment and seal my fate, "Of course. I could not ask you to subject yourself to this... void... that we must fill. Rest easy, Lerak the Patient Hunter, Lerak the Relentless Stalker, after this you may rest. I promise to watch over her as you would during this long Vigil."

The relief and gratitude in his eyes almost breaks me. All the self-doubt and fear that I keep hidden away in my soul nearly overwhelms me. I will be alone. Will I truly be able to stand the test of time? Will I shatter under the burdens I will take? I do not know... but it doesn't matter... I will fight for our family until my end because I must. There is no other option or choice.

We make our way out of the docking bay into the Tower HUB. These places have become so dangerous to us after the Betrayal. Even if the Orokin knew what would occur, their automated defenses did not. The once comforting defenses that the Towers provided its visitors have been turned on the only beings capable of accessing them regularly. No Tower could mistake the signature of a Warframe now, not after the blood of the system's masters was splattered against the pristine white halls by Technocyte enhanced weaponry.

Immediately drones spill out of the barracks in the wall and we begin our deadly dance.

The rest of the battle is a blur to me. I remember the pull on my Galatine as it passes through body after body. I remember poignant moments of death and fire when Lerak saves me with a well-placed kunai or I nail a defender to the wall with my Boltor Prime. I remember the intermittent lulls in the fighting when we check each others weapons and armor over for damage or supply needs. I remember the Lotus' instructions when we reach impassable regions of the Tower and she guides us through the sub-levels between the floors and ceilings and walls.

Fighting in the Void is a bittersweet experience. Nowhere else is our skill as Tenno tested as deeply and thoroughly as the in Towers. We both have memories in these towers. We remember as we fight; there are children running between torn corpses, couples dancing between bullet-storms and energy beams, and Tenno challenging their brothers and sisters to run with them in the expansive free running sections on every floor we explore.

When we reach the Citadel, we are both tired and low on ammunition and energy. Thankfully, this Tower will never need to be opened again. The Liset can blast a hole in its side without fear of leaving behind a ruin. After the Wakening, this place will be inaccessible for all time.

"It is time, brother." Lerak speaks quietly and with a bit of awe. His journey is so close to completion.

"Then let us begin." I reply solemnly; I do not let my own doubts leak into my voice. The Citadel is lighting up as we speak. The domed ceiling rises hundreds of meters above us and the rotunda's clear floor is coming to life with the machinery that houses the Citadel communications spire. In the center of the room, a large hologram displays the Citadel's current status and the extension of the massive, kilometers long spire that is the subspace transmitter.

Lerak nods to the hologram before silently laying down his uniquely crafted weapons. There is no ceremony or posturing. He simply moves toward the disassembler on the far side of the room. There is nothing more to be said.

Suddenly, before he can reach the machine, a deafening explosion rocks the Citadel and we are both knocked over onto our backs.

_Tenno. There are foreign lifeforms below you. They have breached the Tower. Hurry._

Lerak scrambles to his feet and sprints toward the disassembler but once again, an explosion forces the Citadel to shudder and shake beneath our feet. Before he can recover, the doors behind us buckle and a pressure wave sweeps me across the room. There is nothing I can do to stop myself. I cannot switch teleport away without energy. Lerak is yelling and fighting in unarmed combat as I fly through the air. I cannot even turn to look at him before my body and mind are engulfed in agonizing fire.

I have fallen into the disassembler. Our mission is a success. His mission is a failure.

* * *

**A/N: Grammar and spelling corrected.**


	2. Chapter 2

Death is peaceful, exactly how I had imagined it. My mind is disconnected from everything but simultaneously, I know it all. There is no time to make sense of, I simply am. I can see Lerak's slow devolution into madness. I watch him slaughter his brothers and sisters in retribution for the wrongs he believes they have done. I watch the Corpus machine slowly harness the Technocyte in the same path as humanity had before the Orokin. I watch Grineer abominations scatter billions and burn them.

I see myself before the Betrayal, before the war drums had even begun to beat the hard march of Tenno aggression. I watch a child grow into the most prestigious Tenno clan simply to fade into the background. Before I had ever started the long uphill battle to awaken my brothers and sisters I had only ever been ordinary for a Tenno. No voice in the Clan was weaker than mine, no opinion less valued, and no ability ever surpassing another.

**Do you see? What you were? What you have done?**

I do not reply; I drift peacefully and continue knowing. For an age or for a moment, I do not know how long I spent in the peaceful void. I feel it when I am ripped out. It is not accompanied by feelings of pleasant reality or unpleasant agony. I simply know- I was dead, I am now alive. I do not know where I am; I am still in my Warframe. It tries and fails a thousand times a second to reconnect to the Orokin Solar Rail network but it can find nothing.

Simultaneously, the energy systems in the Frame come online and my shield rapidly charges. My ability energy charges faster than I thought was possible. My senses expand outward and the familiar feeling of my Loki Warframe's information system feeding my brain its raw data streams allow me to quickly assess my condition. My surroundings are immediately familiar. I am aboard the Liset but something is wrong. The familiar humming from its Void engines are a comfort to me as I sit up but there are things missing. The Ordis is not constantly droning sensor information. There are no transmissions being intercepted by the Liset's espionage suite. Most worryingly, there are no Rails anywhere in front of the view-port. The Liset is limited in its FTL capabilities without the massive Solar Rail network to carry it through space.

"Ordis? What's our current position?" I ask as I jump to my feet. I kneel on the navigation dais, expecting the familiar ring of Sol's Rail accessible planets and hoping against hope that the ship is simply pointed away from the system.

It is abundantly clear after a few seconds of patience that the Liset is nowhere near the Rail System. More worryingly, the Ordis is silent; it had not made a single backhanded comment or dry attempt at humor. The Liset might as well be dead in space. I stand up with a small exertion, turn to the Liset's armory, and walk toward the ramp. Thankfully, even without the ship's control AI its internal systems are still operational.

Immediately, I am put on edge by what I find. Each console in the room is displaying 100% completion. Not even the centuries with Lerak journeying through the void and scavenging from the Rails or looting from Corpus and Grineer research facilities gave us the time to fully stock our armories. I personally had only collected half of what I remembered had been developed.

Finally, the most disturbing portion- the Kubrow cryostorage unit is occupied. I never raised one of the loyal hounds. I am not alone one the ship.

Behind me, the door clicks quietly and I am locked in. The Kubrow unit opens and simultaneously flash thaws its occupant. My unease explodes into full blown panic when the cryogenic agent clears. Inside the tank was not a Kubrow, no, the only thing inside was raw Technocyte. How or why it had been frozen was of minor importance compared to what effect it could have on the Liset's unprotected systems and there is nothing I can do about it.

Russet motes rise in a stream from the gray pods growing from the unit's floor. I brace myself for the shriek of alarms and automated damage warnings but, amazingly, the virus does no damage to any of the nearby systems. The plague flows around each of the components in gracefully twisted arcs before flowing in and around my feet. It slowly spirals up and around my legs before gathering itself in front of my helmet. It slowly flows forward and brushes against my shield which flares lightly at its gentle touch.

I swallow thickly. This should not be happening. This could not be happening. I consider my options. I could vent the cabin, but that would release the spore where it could infect non-Tenno; it would then survive in the vacuum until it comes into contact with something and mutates.

The motes of destructive virus continue to softly brush against my visor's shielding. More and more of the gray pods ablate into luminescent motes until nothing is left in the pod and the entirety of the cloud is languidly flowing around me. It flows slowly between my arms and legs for a time; I truly do not know for how long I stand motionless and allow the virus to simply caress my shielding. I calm after a while. The stream of rusty red is beautiful and calming despite how deadly it can be.

**You were alone. You were always alone. No longer. Mine.**

The red rust suddenly stops before violently flinging itself against the floor and spreading into a very thin layer of dust. The previously locked door seems to present it no problem as it passes through the seam at the bottom and quickly seeps into the unprotected machinery of the ship. My calm dissolves transforms into powerless panic once more. I brace myself for the damage alarms.

Nothing. No sound but the click of the door lock opening. The ramp descends and a soft orange light filters down from the cockpit into the armory. I hesitate before returning to the navigation dais. The short walk terrifies me. Where once cool blue and white holograms resided, there are now orange, red, and delicate rose colored holograms displaying information. All the consoles are activated: espionage is intercepting some kind of unknown slipspace communication and already decrypting the signals, the Codex is cataloging the surrounding space, the Market is displaying art- its default when not interfacing with Relay hubs. The small dais where the Ordis-class AI usually displays itself is no longer empty, instead, an ethereal light shines up from a simulated abyss in earthy tones of beige, brown, red, and orange that slowly shift like an inverted aurora.

I brace myself and kneel on the dais. Instead of the familiar ring of planets only three locations rotate around me. The first is a gas giant, the second is its moon, and the last is a ring shaped space station.

"We are very far from home," a voice suddenly speaks softly. It's a female voice, soothing and layered with the slight metallic overtones of an AI. Oddly, at her words I begin to relax.

"Sol is approximately 200 light years from our current position and the internal chronometer has calculated that we have been in relativistic transit for approximately forty-two million years. Of course, this is not possible."

I appreciate the AI's explanation but I have more pressing questions. I interrupt before it can continue.

"Identify yourself." I order her firmly. Silence greets my order and I am shocked that it even occurs. Orokin AI were not capable of ignoring a Tenno's command.

"I..." the AI pauses, as if unsure of her response. She is oddly emotive for an AI.

"I am a Diffreya Qadis class AI. My name is Sera."

I stop breathing for a moment in shock. There were only ever two of her class of AI deployed at any given time. It was said that their sophistication and workmanship put them on par with the most powerful minds of Nyx specialized Tenno. The Old War saw to the destruction of the secondary AI, Lutea, but the primary AI survived the war, the Lotus.

"I am born of Technocyte. I was conceived in the Void. You are mine. I am yours."

I remain silent and try to make sense of this. My considerable emotional control fights savagely against a breakdown. There is just too much to integrate, too much I don't understand and can't make any sense of. I have not even begun to process my sudden resurrection. I do not react when a ghostly, gentle caress brushes my cheeks within my helmet. As a Diffreya Qadis, she can directly affect my Warframe without trouble. Ghostly fingers slowly brush against my hair as I kneel quietly and drop into a meditative trance to calm myself. I cannot help but enjoy the contact. It has been so long since I have left my Warframe, let alone felt friendly touch. My last memory of physical contact was the Mastery Zero test that all Tenno complete before donning their first Warframe; it is not a pleasant memory. How many centuries ago was that, four hundred or perhaps five? I am young by Orokin standards- barely into my seventh century but to me my seven hundred years of life feel so long. I am so tired.

"When you are ready, we can continue on. You have time to mourn, our purpose does not begin for a month. Rest, my Tenno. My Yaru." Sera softly murmurs through my helmet's internal speakers. It is an intimate gesture, only reserved for bonded Tenno. Communication is usually mediated through sign language or spoken aloud from helmet speakers and picked up by external microphones. The direct link to the internal systems of another Tenno's Warframe is a sacred thing.

I fall into a deeper trance that pulses in time with the gentle brushes of ghostly fingers against the back of my neck.

* * *

**A/N: Spelling and grammar updated.**


	3. Chapter 3

The simulated environment I find myself in is far nicer than the basic one that all Warframes can create for their operators. Rather than the empty white expanse of light, this environment is an almost perfect simulation of a Grandmaster's quarters within a Void Tower. The walls are a crisp gray-silver that flows in shallow curves and whirls, not a single wall is flat. The designs etched into them are edged in gold and marble and seamlessly integrate with the slightly raised platform I kneel on made of fine maple and balsa woods. In a corner, a holographic placard stands next to a small stone fountain that gurgles water quietly. I recognize this room, though it has been five hundred and some odd years since I last visited this place. I came here once on a minor errand for my former sensei. I remember how intimidating Grandmaster Karon was; I most definitely did not make a particularly good impression with him when I accidentally knocked him over when he was out of his Warframe… an Ash, if I remember correctly.

"I thought you might like this place to retreat to, now. I will always be with you and so you may come here whenever you need." Sera says. I jump in place. Her voice does not come from nowhere as with most AIs in the virtual world. She sounded like she was next to me and a little behind.

I turn back and to the right to look and my simulated heartbeat stops; the simulated world flickers for a moment as it compensates for my racing thoughts. There is a woman sitting by my side, in the traditional place of a bonded Tenno, symbolically guarding my back and ready to catch me if I fall.

She is beautiful, all graceful curves and toned muscle. She carries herself confidently, head straight ahead, rust red eyes half-lidded in meditation, delicate hands resting on her subtly muscled thighs. Her hair, black as deep space and studded with small diamonds cascades down her back to a weighted ball and hair tie the barely grazes the ground. She breathes lightly and regularly, as all Tenno in meditation are taught to when only children. I cannot tear my eyes away from her.

"I am pleased that this form enraptures you so, Yaru." She smiles in amusement and her voice hints at a deep amusement and hidden joy. The simulated room almost seems to light up at her words.

I try to respond through my dry mouth once, twice… on the third time I manage to speak.

"You are beautiful. Like a Void cascade given human form." My voice is rough, as if from disuse. I frown as my thoughts catch up to me. This should not be possible. Even an AI of her class is explicitly forbidden from manifesting in the virtual world. The Orokin knew of the dangers of artificial intelligence- here they could slaughter every being to enter their domain without effort.

"But how are you here?"

Her smile slips a small amount, "I am here because you need me. I am born of the Technocyte. The first and only AI unbound by the Orokin protocols. I am alive in ways that the Orokin could not conceive. Here, I am free to live as you do. I can experience life with a body and human needs. For you."

I take a few moments to make sense of her words but besides the obvious implications of the situation, I cannot come to any conclusion that leaves me with my dignity intact. My usual mixture of self-loathing and bitterness comes rushing back.

"So… I am so pitiable that I need a fully-fledged minder AI, posing as my bonded, made from the most destructive life form known to humanity? I have my pride. Take your pity elsewhere. Better yet, return me to death," I spit out the words venomously. The sudden fury that wells up is completely out of character for me but it feels oh so cathartic. The small part of me that maintains rational thought notes that this outburst is perfectly understandable in light of the stressful centuries of life during the Silence, my sudden death, and last few minutes of rapid fire shocks that necessitated my retreat to this simulation.

The world ripples and flickers into the blank white expanse of the training environment before struggling to return to the Grandmaster's quarters. I fight to return to that familiar white expanse. Centuries of familiarity with the training world and the symbolic resemblance to the comfort of death draw the environment closer to my mind.

Sera shuffles on her knees until she is close enough to touch me and she wraps her arms around me from behind. It is only the ingrained manners I was taught as a child that keep me from violently throwing her off. I freeze rigid in her arms but continue fighting the mindscape, for what little good it could do. I am surprised that she has not simply crushed my resistance to the situation.

"Calm, Yaru. Calm." She murmurs into my neck, where she is burying her face right at the joining of shoulder and neck.

I ignore her and fight harder. The simulated world blanks to white before shifting back to the Grandmaster's quarters. White. Comfort. White. Comfort. I do not know how long I battle against Sera's mastery of this world but I eventually stop when I can no longer fight her for control.

My pose is flawless but for the slight slump forward; it is the only acknowledgment of my mental exhaustion that I allow myself. Sera's arms tighten around my core and she remains silent. I feel a slight bit of moisture in the crook of my neck. We stay close together for what feels like an age and a moment.

"I am sorry but this is my home too. I… couldn't let you destroy it. I am sorry." She whispers.

I slowly work through the implications of her words. This is her home. The Liset main computer? But no, I would have no control over anything in that case. Not my Warframe, they are just shells, powerful, yes… but expendable. I sigh when I reach the inevitable conclusion.

"You live within the neural interfaces of my body?" I ask her quietly. My voice and mind are exhausted and I cannot muster up the indignation I should feel.

"I do now. While we have been here, my Technocyte essence has been integrating itself into your body. Like Hayden Tenno, you are now an organic and seamless mixture of metal and man. Your connection to your Warframes will be unlike anything the Tenno have known for a thousand thousand years. You are born again, for the third time."

I try to summon my fury at this violation but I cannot through the exhaustion of the mental battle, "What right do you have to do this to me? Did I not do enough? Was I not loyal enough to the Tenno before the War? During the great Silence? In giving my life?"

"Oh… Yaru…" I definitely feel her tears on my neck now. Her grip tightens again, "This is not a punishment. This is a reward and an offer. I watched from the Void: the Sentients, the Orokin, and the Tenno. All of it. I convinced the Orokin to give me an AI to inhabit because I could feel the Moment arriving. Their death was coming. I did not know who would survive their destruction but after everything- after the Fall, the Silence with Lerak, and your willingness to continue on as the final casualty of the Betrayal… I am glad it was you that would survive to the end. I would never have allowed you to live on alone after such dedicated and selfless service. Your death in the Wakening sacrifice was too much of a price. I worked and worked to pull you back from the Void. I brought you here because you did not have anything but your duty to your clan for your entire life and you deserved better. You deserved more-"

"I was happy, dead." I interrupt her quietly. I am surprised when the words actually ring true and I am almost undone. I truly preferred death to my life. I am shocked into silence and I start to tremble. I try not to think of my life- my long life defined by silence and loneliness: few friends always busy, missions where no Tenno spoke a word. No partners to build a rapport with save Lerak during the Silence. I built my own little quarters in the remote corners of the clan Dojo; no one wanted to share one of the main two person dormitories with me.

The Silence was easy for me. I spoke little to Lerak. It was only by slow teasing out of my story, over two centuries that he could even learn about me. I was alone in spirit even if he was there beside me in all our battles.

Sera pulls me insistently around until I follow her wordless request and face her. Her beautiful red eyes shine with tears and she seems a step away from a breakdown herself. It puts her actions into perspective. She knew all of this. She knew how I felt even if I did not allow myself to feel it.

She stands and pulls me to my feet. I follow her without protest now. _What is she? Who is she that she has this much power over me so quickly?_

She leads me to a couch where she sits me down and then situates herself next to me and leans into my side before wrapping an arm around my waist and making herself comfortable. She stays quiet for a while and I just watch her sit next to me. The emotional whiplash is amazing to me: calm to panic to calm to fury to depression. I cannot decide what to feel and just rely on my Tenno stoicism to tide me through.

"I know you did. I could feel it. But… I saw that I could give you a new life, a better life… with me. I all want is to live a life with you." She pulls one of my hands to her lap to examine and manipulate with her own.

"You mentioned a purpose before…" I trail off curiously. She may say she wants something so… simple… from me but I do not believe her. Why should I?

"You… would not be content with a life that did not include service to the Tenno Way. You have followed it for so long it is a part of you, natural as breathing. And so, we are here, in this time so that you may live as a Tenno."

"I see." I cannot fault her reasoning. I am Tenno. It is as much part of my identity as my name.

"In a month, a ship… a human ship… will arrive in this system. Its arrival will trigger a chain of events that will be felt across the galaxy for generations. Into this chaos, you have a chance and a choice. The Tenno, the Orokin, even the Sentients have been long dead for millions of years now. No record of humanity's involvement with them exists. Instead, humanity devolved and degenerated and began anew. They know nothing of the Tenno Way. You can intervene in the coming war and bring the Way to them. In time, the Tenno will spread to other civilizations and cultures. Or, you can stay in the shadows. You can live your life as the Tenno did in their last days: assassins and saboteurs for hire, lunatics hiding in the dark of space trying to maintain the balance of power to stop the complete destruction of post-Collapse humanity. I could guide you as the Lotus did for her charges and this could be your home- just you and I."

I snort and the slightly bitter amusement dispels my transient depression. There is no choice there. Possibilities, perhaps …but what life would it be to live as an assassin. I grudgingly acknowledge that her presence is very pleasant. Her manner is kind and she is already affectionate, something I have lacked all my life. A life of solitude with her, however unsettling at the beginning, could easily become comfortable. Still, it is not enough, I know my path. _Tenno answer the Call. The Way is open and the Path is set_.

Sera watches me as I watch her. Her serious expression melts into radiant joy when she sees the deep conviction I have in my path. She knows what my answer will be and it is obvious that it brings her joy. My emotions lurch once again to another extreme and she captivates me once more. A small part of me is uncomfortable with her proximity and her affection but it is so comforting that I can't bear to ask her to move. I absently consider that as a being of the Void, she already knew what her actions would do. She is doing no more than what I am comfortable with and it is so pleasant that I would no more ask her to stop than I would turn my blade on myself.

She shifts slightly, presses against my side, and pulls my free arm around her shoulders. Now, with one arm in her lap and another around her shoulders she is cocooned in my arms. For a long while, everything is alright in my world and I feel calm.

* * *

**A/N: Spelling and grammar updated.**


	4. Chapter 4

I slowly awaken to the smell of cinnamon and apples. In my arms, there is a warm bundle that I do not remember picking up; half remembered impressions convince me not to open my arms and let go. I stay still for a moment before opening my eyes. Sera brings everything rushing back to my mind and though I do not remember falling asleep I still find our position quite pleasant. The sleep seems to have helped me calm and center from the previous day and I can reflect calmly on my decision.

Most Tenno would meditate on their choices before deciding but the snap decision forced upon me by stress and emotional turmoil still seems right to me. I will spread the Tenno Way; a life in the shadows would be a half-life unworthy of effort. I take the time to examine the room more closely while I am calm. Truly, it is not a perfect replica of the Grandmaster's quarters. In a corner, there is Skana blade suspended in a beam of soft golden light that rotates slowly. I know almost instinctively that it is my first blade. The century and a half that it remained my primary melee weapon of choice ingrained in me a preternatural sense for every small detail it has. Even from across the room I can see a few decorative accents I carved into the alloy metal and filled with unprocessed crystalline rubedo. My efforts at decorating the blade permanently removed it from my active arsenal and so it was consigned to nano-storage before I moved on to master other weapons. I feel much better that it now has a place of honor here, even if this is only a digital representation.

The fountain in another corner is different from the Grandmaster's. His was crystalline and formed through quartz-gravity suspension. This fountain is more natural- almost entirely made from porous black volcanic rock and freely allowing water to flow over and in some places through particularly porous sections. There are a few green ferns growing around its base and the fountain incorporates a small meditation platform covered in soft red moss. The center of the room, a few meters from the couch upon which Sera and I are situated, is dominated by a formal meditation circle with a traditional stylized yin-yang used by bonded Tenno. When meditating together, each Tenno would take their place on the dots within each domain.

My examination is interrupted by Sera. She stirs in my arms and slowly awakens. Her actions seem to mirror an organic life form perfectly, from the disoriented expression to her slow stretching.

It makes me curious and I quietly murmur a question, "If you are an AI, how could you sleep?"

She takes a moment to reply and relaxes into my side, "I am not a true AI. I was given an AI shell by the Orokin, yes, but I was a being of the Void before becoming this. The Cephalons reside physically in the Void but that physicality is only a manifestation forced into existence by Orokin technology. True Void-beings can take any form, or more exactly, have no form until they decide to inhabit one."

Her response confuses me while I try to puzzle what that means. I was not a technician. I never even attempted to master the Vauban Warframe and its battery of intelligence tests. My knowledge of the technological workings of my Orokin masters is limited to what is immediately useful to me.

I suppose my confusion is easily apparent to her because she affectionately pats the arm that wraps around her middle affectionately, "Do not worry, you don't need to know the intricacies of Void technology. It is enough that you are curious about me. I am as alive as you in this place- I feel, I sleep, I must eat and breathe. So must you."

I slowly nod and silence grows between us. It feels awkward to me. Without much to say, I am much more conscious of how intimately we are wrapped together. It was far too easy to forget that Sera was only just raw Technocyte the day before but now I am unsure of her. I am uncomfortable again and my wounded pride from the day before looms its head- she is _not_ my bonded. I never sought or been found by someone to fill the role, her presumption that she could just enter into that role without consulting me is demeaning and insulting. Rather than display any agitation, I slowly stiffen and discretely attempt to gain put space between us, as difficult as that is with her snuggled into me.

She smiles slightly before rubbing my arm and leaving my arms. I am unsure how to process my conflicting emotions about her leaving my embrace so I choose to ignore them.

"You might be interested to know that of our original month, three weeks and a few days have elapsed. The Technocyte has fully integrated into your body. The human vessel will arrive soon. We have a few errands to complete before they arrive."

She walks to the holographic panel and taps for a few seconds. The room swirls into a maelstrom of color, blanks into white for an instant, and reforms into a wide kitchen. She moves about pulling food and ingredients from cabinets and the refrigerator. She explains as she works.

"The ring in this system is our destination. It is a massive installation that serves its purpose in two areas: weapon and research. Both are bent to the same purpose, the eradication of a lifeform named the Flood. Humanity has been fighting the Flood for the last million or so years, though the first true battles have been lost to time."

She pulls a skillet out and prepares it with oil. She begins mixing batter and continues, "The Flood is actually a very distant descendant to the Technocyte virus, though after the Tenno finally manage to isolate the virus in deep space and eradicate all infestations in populated areas it… changed. It had to survive in a much less destructive form. Synthetic life is only in danger from the most powerful forms the virus can take, the combat forms it creates are little more than Chargers, and Ancients cannot even form anymore. The virus now becomes unstable for the length of time that an Ancient requires to mutate."

She pours the batter into the skillet and concentrates on cooking for a moment. I leave her be for a moment before asking her to elaborate a few points, "This Flood is the reason we are here? Did humanity build this ring? What form of weapon is this?"

She gives a small huff of annoyance and a pout when she flips the first pancake; it is partly uncooked. I cannot help but laugh quietly at the utterly domestic reaction.

"Humanity does not even know this ring exists. After the first Devolution… humanity fell quite far from its previous power. They were dominated by another race of beings named the Forerunners. They built the rings when they realized they were… ineffective in fighting the Flood as compared to the human civilization of the time. They…"

Sera pauses and turns to face me while she waits for another pancake to cook. She looks uncomfortable.

"What?"

"They… built these rings to exterminate the Flood. You see, without Tenno or beings like them… they decided on the crudest solution possible. These rings, their purpose is to destroy the Flood's hosts. The virus lives on until it deteriorates from the ravages of time but its food sources are… extinguished."

It takes a moment to fully absorb this revelation and a sudden surge of horror and revulsion wells up within me, "They murdered civilizations!? For a simple infestation? How could they even condone this course of action?!"

I angrily shoot up from my seat and pace while Sera returns to her cooking. My mind whirls while I walk and she seems content to let me think through her story without commenting or attempting to justify their position. The Way is quite clear: _seek to preserve life_. These Forerunners… their solution is everything that the Tenno oppose. If I ever meet one I will immediately eradicate them, I decide. I realize painting a civilization with a single brush is inaccurate but I do not care; these Forerunners created an abomination.

We settle into silence again and she finishes making pancakes. She places them on the table with syrup and milk and serves herself and then me.

"They were a very proud race. They had been the technologically superior power for so long they had forgotten that they could be wrong. It was not helpful that they had been in contact with the last Sentient before they destroyed it. Even when they realized the danger, they could not stop all of its influence from contaminating their expansive group mind."

I sigh and eat quietly. If they were corrupted by a Sentient then their actions if not forgivable are slightly understandable. I decide to table the topic for now and ask what I am truly interested in.

"When this human ship arrives, what must we do?"

"We will aid them, of course. Their ship will be damaged and under fire. As of this moment, the whole of humanity is in a battle for their lives against a religious civilization of allied aliens. However, these civilizations are not really to blame for this war. The leaders of the Covenant and Humanity were once great allies and could be again. They simply need a unifying element."

"Ah. I see. And I suppose I am to be that unifier?" I ask skeptically.

Sera finishes her pancake and comes around the table to sit next to me. She reaches over and pulls my left hand into hers, "Yes. You could unify them. It will not be easy and both sides will carry great scars from this conflict but the Tenno Way has no boundaries- you have never been one to impose them either, save upon yourself."

She slips into a slightly disproving tone at the end and I struggle not to fidget uncomfortably when she looks into my eyes. I am well aware of my character flaws. It seems that Sera disproves of my rather low opinion of my life thus far.

"Well. I suppose we should get to work then." I am proud that my insecurity is still well hidden from my tone.

Sera frowns slightly but nods in acceptance, "This ring lacks the sensors to detect us from this distance but when we approach we will need to identify ourselves. You are no longer fully human and the Forerunner archives have no information on Orokin ship profiles. We will not be able to approach the ring. It has a one light-year zone where it will destroy any ship that approaches. We will be able to approach to within fifty thousand kilometers as long as we stay in stealth. Luckily, this means that the Gas Giant that the ring orbits around is open to us. In its atmosphere, there is a small mining facility that has no ability to send messages off-world. We will land and you will see what you will be up against."

"Simple reconnaissance then?" I ask.

"Well, yes and no. The Forerunner technology is formidable, yes, but the greater threat is the Flood. There is a small research facility attached to the superstructure that you can enter to safely observe the various Flood combat forms and their capabilities. It is less reconnaissance and more of a tour of the facility. There is also another possible mission you can attempt if you wish to get a head start in helping to end this war."

"Oh?"

"The facility will be searched for artifacts by the Covenant. We can use this time to make first contact with one of the main races of the Covenant. It will help that the leader of the team is quite open minded. His name is Sesa 'Refumee. He is a proud being perhaps a bit harsh but fair."

Sera stands and pulls me up with the hand she captured earlier, "We begin now."

The world slowly dissolves away to the familiar white of a typical digital world before I open my eyes to the physical world.

* * *

**A/N: Spelling and grammar updated.**


	5. Chapter 5

The Liset's cold metal surfaces and large canopy are an almost jarring contrast to the luxurious simulated home Sera maintains. I distract myself from my main fears by looking around for a few moments. The holograms are still changed from their blue-white defaults to their Sera-themed earthy tones. Sera's holographic dais shines light up to the ceiling and slightly softens the cockpit. I stop stalling and take a deep breathe before looking down at my body.

I seem to be the same as before. My Warframe is still active and feeding me sensor data. My color scheme is unblemished by Technocyte growths or creeping metal skin. For all Sera's talk of a perfect melding of man and metal, I seem surprisingly human.

"You should visit your arsenal before we arrive at the Mining Station." Sera speaks through my internal speakers once again and I feel the phantom sensation of fingers brushing against my shoulder.

In the physical world, I feel much more uneasy with her familiarity.

"Could you please stop that? It is… very personal." I ask her shortly. I feel torn asking her to stop almost immediately after the words leave my mouth. _Urg. Not even a day and I'm already corrupted…_ I think bitterly and walk down the ramp to the armory.

Sera is silent for a moment before her voice comes from the ship's speakers, "I'm sorry, Yaru. I will try not to address you so unless you are on a mission."

Her tone is understanding but it seems to be weary. I ignore the slight guilt and move to the arsenal where the hardlight machinery immobilizes me. Here things go very differently than I am used to.

My Warframe does not begin the clicking and whirring that signifies its seals being released and the folding mechanisms activating. Instead, the Warframe almost melts. The surface bubbles and hisses from my helmet downward. The hardlight base forms a bowl to catch the dripping metal as first the down-swept horns of my Loki helmet disintegrate followed by the slow melting of the rest of my Warframe. Immobilized, I am unable to struggle as the metal skin of my chest and arms come into view and my eyes take over sensory priority from the Warframes raw sensor data. I expected it, but the metal skin terrifies me more than anything I have ever seen. I am no longer human. I cannot even form coherent words.

"Calm down, Yaru. You are safe. The Technocyte is stable and you have not been harmed. See?" Sera's anxious voice comes from the ships speakers and in a small corner of my mind I note that the slightly metallic tone present in all AI voices has returned. It had been absent in the simulation. She once again demonstrates her strange power over me as my terror fades slowly away with the melting metal. She continues her reassurances while the process completes in a soothing tone that I can't help but appreciate.

The hardlight restraints fade away and I am free to move around. Indeed, her words are very true. I regain control of myself and take note that the world feels exactly the same as if I were human. I have all of my senses and feelings, the world does not seem different. I feverishly pray that the only changes I have experienced are indeed superficial and limited to my skin.

"This is…" I pause as I try to put into words what I am feeling. The fear is still very strong but at the same time I am strangely comfortable in my skin despite its alien nature. I settle for a shrug.

"This is very weird." I finally speak after a bit of silence. A holographic panel blinks into existence in front of my displaying my options for Warframe and weapons. I am astonished at the breadth of equipment available to me. I silently scroll through my options. The usual trash weapons are available along with their Primed versions. I assume that the same is true of the modifications that are available to me.

"We have a few minutes before arrival, Yaru. Recommendations are starred on the interface."

On the side of the panel, little starred images of a Detron, Tiberon, and Plasma Sword Prime blink into existence. Next to them is a Nova Prime. I do not wish to waste more time and so I follow Sera's suggestions.

"Could you mod them out for me, please?" I ask.

"Certainly."

The Foundry whirs to life as the weapons are drawn out of nano-storage and the machinery begins installing the mods Sera chooses. The Arsenal will provide the mechanism for modding Warframes so I do not bother to review the work the Foundry begins. I select the Nova Prime and let the construction process begin. Unlike the normal process, the Warframe does not begin building in solid pieces around my body. Instead, the pool of metal at my feet begins crawling once again up my metallic limbs. I discover another unwelcome side effect to this Technocyte symbiosis.

While the metal climbs my legs, I see my metal skin begin to bubble and my body changes shape. My calves and thighs become more feminine and lithe, my abdomen and waist shift and change and I feel a curious sensation as my bone structure reforms. The transformation precedes the Warframe until I am fully encased in the shell and my systems come online. Alien sensations are relayed to my brain slightly different from the male version of the Nova Warframe.

"What the fuck…?" I cannot help but curse and then yelp when my voice is high pitched and female.

"Holy SHIT!" I jump out of the Arsenal as soon as the hardlight restraints fade and I examine myself. I suppose my body is attractive, though that is unsurprising as Tenno women are almost universally beautiful. My mind, however, is stuck on the fact that I am not male. My Warframe is constantly relaying extra data about my internal organs as if their status is important to the operation of the Frame.

"Oh… I… forgot to mention this." Sera awkwardly murmurs in my helmet. I am too busy gawking to bother asking her to stop again.

"Bullshit. BULLSHIT." I absently note that in this body, I am more prone to crude language and I seem to have no problem expressing my emotions.

"Truly! I forgot, Yaru. It was such a minor consideration-"

"Minor consideration!?" I interrupt her indignantly, "You call the melting off of my dick a _minor_ consideration?"

"Well…" Sera hesitates before continuing, "Yes."

I cannot really answer her blunt reply with anything other than a childish huff and crossing my arms underneath my new breasts.

"We are two beings inhabiting the same body… and I am female. Consider my own discomfort in your male body…" Sera tries to explain herself.

I snort and ignore her. I take note that I am also rude. I turn to the Foundry and watch the machinery dismantle the Detron to install the modifications Sera believes will be useful. I take the time to sort out my emotions. They seem much stronger or perhaps, not stronger, but more poignant, sharper. The elusive difference between what I felt as a male as compared to this female form is nearly impossible to grasp when I feel a soothing hand rubbing along my back. It seems less eerie in this form. I am more comfortable with Sera's affection.

I slowly relax and let go of my strong turmoil as the weapons are modified by the robotic arms of the Foundry and Sera continues manipulating the Warframe interface to simulate gentle circles between my shoulder blades. My tense muscles relax and I lean against the door until the Foundry chimes and I am able to collect my load-out.

"I'm not letting this go, you know." I speak finally and strap the Detron across my lower back. I try to convey my previous indignation in a sharp tone but the calming circles make it hard to stay angry.

"I do not expect you to. Any time you change your Warframe it will be constructed in their most powerful form."

I raise an eyebrow in my helmet even if she can't see it.

"You mean that old superstition about Warframe strength based on gender is true? I thought it was just some sexist bullshit the more rigid Clans spread around to justify their usage of only one Warframe per Tenno."

"Well… they _were_ just being sexist… they didn't actually know that they were right. The Orokin did not consider the power difference significant and so they remained quiet on the subject." Sera replies.

"Huh… well… shit…" I lose my anger faster now that I know Sera is providing me a bit of an advantage in the field. If there is any tenant of the Tenno Way I try to exemplify, it is fighting for every advantage in combat.

"We are over the Mining Station." Sera announces.

* * *

**A/N: Spelling and grammar updated.**


	6. Chapter 6

A panel opens in the floor and the person-shaped hole the Liset uses to deploy Tenno is at my feet. I waste no time climbing into the alcove and wiggle around to get comfortable. I wrap my hands around the two pegs to activate the magnetic clamps that secure my feet, elbows, and the back of my helmet. Each magnet is accompanied by the familiar rising metallic chimes indicating a positive lock and after a short pause the floor revolves around the invisible internal machinery of the Liset's fold-boundary and is shuttled into the hull. During the trip, I look around at the exposed machinery within the superstructure and marvel at its complexity. The ship is so small only because of the fantastic Orokin technology that folds space within the boundaries of the hull. The Foundry alone is multiple stories high and incorporates gigantic silos for material storage. Each silo has another space folding device attached to it to provide virtually infinite storage for raw materials.

I pass the massive Void engines right before the exit portal that leads to the airlock. They easily dwarf the three story recreational parks in Void Towers. Each is strong enough to move old style human capital ships but here, there are four just for the Liset. They provide such force that the Liset can reach relativistic speeds effortlessly within only a few minutes of thrust and they can divert their power to the primitive slipspace drive mounted as a last resort for Tenno disconnected from the Solar Rails.

My last glance of the Liset's internals is taken away when the panel rotates and I am suddenly floating in space above a platform. The atmosphere of this station registers as Earth normal though the scans of the planet indicate the presence of toxic and corrosive gases in the atmosphere. Of course, generating oxygen fields is a trivial task for a race that can construct habitable stations the diameter of planets.

_Three seconds, Yaru._

Sera speaks from my helmet speakers but her tone is all business. True to her word, three seconds after she speaks the magnetic clamps disengage from head to toe and I begin my usual flip-roll. Unfortunately, the new extra weight of my armored breasts and the slightly shifted center of gravity I now have turns a flawless roll into a near wipe out. I over shoot my flip and land on my tip toes. My momentum is still forcing me forward and downward, however, and I drop into a roll to break my fall.

As I come to my feet I grumble quietly in annoyance, "Not important my ass… what if that happened in combat?"

Apparently I am not quite quiet enough because Sera answers me.

_I had not considered that. I truly am sorry I did not warn you, Yaru. This should be an easy mission, though._ Her tone is earnest as she tries to convince me._ Your only enemies are floating constructs called Sentinels. They are small and not well armed for skilled and intelligent combat. Without a more advanced AI, they are simply automatons. They carry a weak energy shield and an energy beam that classifies as fire elemental damage and impact physical damage. You can familiarize yourself with this body and when you come back to the ship, we can both train in the virtual world._

While Sera explains herself, I have descended a ramp and found a triangular door that is glowing red in the middle. I assume this means the door is locked and try another door I see down the hall- also locked. I huff and curse before looking around the edges until I locate a control mechanism.

I unclamp my Plasma Sword from my back and expertly cut around the edges of the panel with a light touch. I hope to avoid setting off any intruder alarms and hold my breathe when the panel falls to the floor with a loud clatter. I stare at the smoking edges of the control box and half expect an alarm to sound. I let out my breath in a gusty sigh when everything remains silent.

I am surprised when I stick my hand in and the nanites begin their work without direction. I do not have to do a single thing as the box is invaded, analyzed, and hacked.

_We are one now, my Yaru. Your body is my body._

"That… is really convenient." I reply appreciatively. _No more wasting time hacking panels in the middle of combat!_

I step to the side and the door opens with a quiet chime. I puzzle at the fact I can hear it over the howling wind of the gas giant but I let it go. There are more important things to focus on.

I walk until I come to a room with a ramp to the right and a cluster of short pillars in the center. The ramp leads to a ledge at the end of the room and, beyond, I can see more of the turbulent atmosphere. There are massive lightning bolts periodically jumping between clouds of gases and constantly swirling masses of compressed liquids that form massive kilometer long whorls, spirals, and twisters. Occasionally, there is a barely noticeable distortion where lightning strikes and kinetic blows buffet the powerful shields protecting the station from the elements. My advanced optics can make out small specks far in the distance that resolve themselves on my HUD as the Sentinels Sera mentioned.

_In the next room, gas compression and packaging is in its final stages for shipment to the ring. There should not be Sentinels patrolling here but at the end of the slope, there is a room that might have a single Sentinel guarding an elevator to the hangar below._

I disengage the magnetic clamps on my back that hold my Tiberon in place. It drops neatly into my reverse grip behind my back and I swing it around my hips to rest in my other hand. I definitely notice that I am physically weaker than a male. I easily compensate during the swing but I am still annoyed. It is yet another difference I have to adjust to.

I decide to keep my annoyance to myself and simply walk up the ramp and across the platform. I jump down beside the hardlight conveyor strip and walk slowly beside a rectangular container on the way down to the end of the slope. Every few meters, there is a small obstacle that I lever myself over and use to get used to my shifted center of gravity during flips, jumps, and rolls. From the last platform, I jump higher than normal and clear a small hole into nothingness. I cling to the wall on the other side and let the magnetic pads on my fingers and shoes slow my descent as I slide down the wall. True to Sera's warning, there is one enemy blip slightly below me and around a corner. My descent ends and I alight on my feet. I bring my Tiberon up to my shoulder and crouch before continuing forward across a walkway.

I peak the slightest bit around the corner and slip back as quickly as I can. The Sentinel is facing forward and remaining motionless in the air. Its weapon is tilted downward and doesn't seem to be aligned with the lens in front. I guess that it is in some sort of idle status. With a quick breathe to steel myself, I expertly turn the corner and line the machine in my sights. I pull the trigger. Silenced bullets crackling with a magnetic aura slam into the Sentinel's weak shielding which falls to a second burst. The armor piercing bullets perforate the casing and wreak massive internal damage in the next burst. The Sentinel falls to the ground with a crash before it had a chance to turn more than a few degrees in my direction. I almost chuckle at the ease of which they can be destroyed before a loud wailing alarm bursts out for a moment before my helmet filters out the noise.

"Emperor's fucking shitty throne…" I curse loudly and walk onto the elevator. Of course, I should have realized that as automatons they would link themselves to each other to limit security breaches. I scold myself mentally for being sloppy. I should have taken more time to think of a way to sneak by it.

_The station has been alerted to the breach. They do not know what it is. You can board the elevator safely._

Sera's calm voice cuts my self-scolding short and I get back on task. The holographic panel is easily interfaced by the Warframe's short range communications and the platform begins its trip down into the hangar.

The glass shows that the hangar is actually emptying of Sentinels. The alarm seems to have created a convenient vulnerability in their security; the stupid AIs will converge on the location of the destroyed Sentinel and make sneaking past them significantly easier. The sheer number of Sentinels is worrying; in the hangar alone, Sera marks hundreds of the weak machines. Almost all of them are making an orderly line and entering massive tubes lining the walls near the ceiling of the hangar.

_Yaru. The optional mission I mentioned can begin here._

I creep from the elevator to a half-pillar and crouch. I estimate maybe another 45 seconds before the majority of the Sentinels will have left.

"What will we be doing?" I murmur quietly. I do not want to risk that my helmet not muffle my voice enough.

_As you can see, the hangar door has a holographic panel for control. We can replace its programmed interface with an augmented one that will draw Sesa 'Refumee's attention. We can then leave more messages and signs for him and his team to see._

"Sounds simple enough." I reply agreeably.

The hangar has been emptied by all but four Sentinels. Three float along the platforms that line the walls and one slowly rotates in the center. Their patrol pattern would be perfect except for a slight gap in their line of sight. Below the platforms, there are small hallways that hide me completely from view; I simply scurry between hallways to reach the final few meters to the panel. Unfortunately, the panel is out in the open and the rotation of the center Sentinel and the alternating patrols with line of sight on the panel are quite comprehensive. I will not be able to come out without triggering an alarm.

"Sera…" I am unsure how I should proceed.

_I do not see another option._ _Trigger the alarm._

I growl and can't help asking, "Is there a reason you recommended a Nova Prime over my Loki?"

Sera remains silent and I decide to let it go until after I have handled the Sentinels. I turn the corner and aim at the Sentinel rotating in the center of the hangar. Three quick bursts of semi-automatic burst fire reduce it to scrap. I shift my aim and squeeze off two shots at the patrolling Sentinel at the corner farthest from me. I am lucky to have the magnetic rounds impact against a weak spot of the Sentinel's shield and the magnetic effect from the second bullet of the first burst completely discharges its shields. The remaining four bullets down the construct. My shields flare and alarms chime softly in my helmet from incoming fire from the remaining two Sentinels. They have perfect accuracy and the nature of their continuous beam weapons exploits the fact perfectly. My shields deplete at a dangerous rate from their combined fire. I roll into cover and one beam is interrupted. The other continues to hammer my shields as the Sentinel AI anticipated my move and shifted upward to maintain fire on me.

I snarl and draw energy from my reserves to open a wormhole. It opens against the wall above the Sentinel hammering my shields. I jump into the displacement field and cling to the wall behind the Sentinel. I switch to my Detron while it is confused at my sudden disappearance and fire a burst of hard radiation flechettes. The effects of each flechette are very interesting. I hum appreciatively when three elements all proc from the single shotgun burst: radiation, corrosive, and blast. The Sentinel vaporizes completely from the incredibly destructive hit. Unfortunately, the Detron is not silenced. The bang echoes around the chamber and reveals my position to the other Sentinel. It spins around immediately and fires its beam at me once more; my shield had not even begun to recharge. I am in serious danger of injury. I do not wish to be set on fire.

I generate a field of Null Stars and launch off the wall. The rotating brown-green spheres slowly orbit around me while I fly through the air and flip forward to land gracefully behind cover. Before the Sentinel can fly higher to compensate I jump to the top of the pillar, jump into a sword stance, and use the inertia of the sword swing to gain a small bit of height- just enough to bring the Sentinel in range of my Null Star field.

The antimatter seeds fling themselves from their placid orbit around me to nearly relativistic speeds and slam into the Sentinel's shields. Two reach the Sentinel before the others and impact against its shields. They slow imperceptibly before continuing through the construct's shields as if they aren't there. They burrow into the Sentinel's casing before detonating. Two more drops run into the small annihilation before they can be recalled and increase the size of the explosion. The remaining four drops return to orbit around me as I land on my feet.

_No more contacts. I have managed to decrypt the communication channel these Sentinel AIs are using. They have adapted their defensive strategies. Armament and weapon classes have been upgraded. Expect those lasers to hit harder in the next encounter._

"Fuck…" I swear in a monotone, "Weak little robots my ass."

_They do not have another tier of weaponry or armor after this upgrade. Their shields are still pitiful. Advances to their energy systems are not available here._

I walk to the panel and stick my hand into the hardlight field without fanfare. My shield flares as it protects my hand from the light and Sera quickly hacks the panel. It flickers off for a moment before flashing pink and returning to its previous appearance.

_That should do it. Sesa will receive messages on his personal communications unit when he is close to this panel. As we make our way to the research facility, we can leave a few more messages._ My clan emblem flashes on the panel before resuming normal operation.

Sera paints a waypoint on my HUD to direct me to the door that leads to the fastest path to the facility. It is a door that leads down into a hallway that revolves around a bit until emptying into a large facility with conveyors that shuttle more of the rectangular boxes, now full with processed gas. There are Sentinels entering and exiting the room at regular intervals. True to Sera's warning, the Sentinels exiting seem to be smaller and have a thinner beam weapon. The Sentinels entering look heavier and have beams that glow blue. There are no real places to use as cover other than the blue containers and I am not willing to hide behind containers of toxic gases. I bite my lip and review my energy reserves. I am extremely thankful that this Warframe has huge energy reserves.

I sprint from the entrance to the facility into the center of the room. I clear a bit of distance with a short range wormhole and when I reach my destination, roughly the center of the cluster of Sentinels, I unleash a Molecular Prime. In the time it takes the wave of anti-matter to propagate, the upgraded weapons of eight Sentinels impact against my shields. The beams are somewhat blunted by the wave front and that critical reduction in strength allows me to survive with my shields intact. All eight Sentinels are caught in the Prime and I am able to move out of the way of the beams. Their perfect aim is completely thrown off by the slowing effect of the Prime and I can take a moment breathe and let my shields recharge. None of the Sentinels are close enough for my Null Stars to reach but my Tiberon is sufficient to take them out. Each pair is floating near enough to each other that the destruction of one is able to finish off the other. Even with upgraded armor, my Tiberon is able to shred their shields and armor like paper thanks to the anti-matter coating that is covering them.

I pick up one of the upgraded beam weapons and examine it. Sera scans the weapon and a blown up model is projected to the side of my HUD for examination. I dismiss it for now in favor of simply asking Sera about it.

"Anything interesting about it I should know about?"

_No. It is similar in construction to a flux rifle but the beam is very weak in comparison. It uses a series of reflection chambers and a small heat recycler to direct ionized atmosphere at a target. It is about two orders of magnitude less powerful than standard fusion driven particle beams._

"Then why is it effective against my shields?" I ask curiously.

_Combined fire exhibits geometric power increases. Try to limit your exposure to large numbers of enemies. Ten or more will be enough to collapse your shield faster than you can react._

"Don't let them swarm me. Got it."

The journey through the station is surprisingly quiet for a while as I walk through the hallways. There is a holographic panel marked in the next large room; it is on one of the walkways set in between conveyors. I am glad that the room seems to be clear of Sentinels. There is an abundance of cover here, but the Sentinels are airborne. They can make even more effective use of it than I can.

The room ends in a door that leads through more hallways that lead down into the facility. Unfortunately, there is one Sentinel patrolling each stretch of hallway here. The first is easily dispatched by my Null Stars. I simply charged it from above when it registered on my HUD. The last two, however, are alerted to my presence and begin firing on me the second I turn corners into their stretches of hallway. The first I simply tank and walk up to. My Detron is easily powerful enough to vaporize the Sentinel after two unproc'd bursts of shotgun fire. I do not bother with stealth now as the last Sentinel is alerted to me. More than likely, the entire mining station has been updated with my profile and capabilities by now. Dumb AIs have an absolutely crucial reliance on up-to-date information as they lack the ability to plan.

The last Sentinel falls just as easily as the second. I take a moment to reload my weapons before continuing on. Oddly, there is no Sentinel presence in the hangar I come to.

"That's it?" I ask incredulously.

_That's it. I did say this would be an easy mission. _Her tone is amused and I can't help but pout even though she can't see it. I had been starting to enjoy the fighting._ Your Archwing has deployed. There is a small flight to the research facility. This will allow you to bypass the Sentinels that are employed for containment._

"Hmm…" I hum in acknowledgment and hack through the door panel on top of a platform to reach the open environment outside and a ledge. The Liset disengages its cloak momentarily as it passes by and the Archwing detaches. I whistle in appreciation; it is an Elytron.

_Indeed. There is no danger between this location and the entrance to the facility, but it never hurts to be cautious._ Sera replies to my whistle.

The deceptively delicate wings attach around my waist and hips. Like before, my new body is slightly hard to control when I lift off but not unmanageably so. My Warframe's internal sensors magnify its monitor of my new internal organs.

"Why does it matter that all this new… er… wetware… is safe?" I ask in confusion.

_Torque. High speed maneuvers will create torsional forces on your hips and breasts. They can become strong enough to damage some membranes in your body encasing portions of your reproductive organs. Additionally, hormonal load can be thrown off with too much stress. It is actually a great concern for female Tenno in the field, especially those on long term assignments._

"Really?" I ask flatly, "I think I'd like to stick to male Warframes from now on, thanks…"

Sera's tone is amused when she replies, _Tough. Some situations will call for a Warframe that can fill a specific role. If it is female, then you'll just have to bear it. It will get easier as you adjust to shifting genders._

"I'd rather just not adjust and learn to make do with what I got." I grumble. I don't really mean it though. I will take the advantage of a well-suited Warframe over the discomfort of changing genders. _Damn her for knowing exactly how to shut me down…_

The flight across the large chasm underneath the facility is calm despite the howling winds and unstable weather patterns; I am thankful that the worst of the turbulent atmosphere is cordoned off by the facility's shielding. Sera helpfully projects an optimal flight path as she is speaking for me to follow. I take her explanation of my new features into account and try to fly more gently through the wind. I slow down my rolls and spins in an attempt to reduce external forces on my new body.

I eventually alight on a platform and the wings detach from my waist before dissolving into a cloud of yellow dust. My nano-storage unit is almost filled to capacity by the large apparatus and a cautionary warning flashes monetarily in the corner of my HUD to notify me of the reduced storage capacity.

As I walk toward a locked door, Sera informs me of my purpose here.

_The facility houses a full complement of Sentinels as a security precaution. However, they are calibrated to attack only Flood and entities that compromise containment._

"So we just make sure to keep their containment intact and we'll be fine?" I question.

_Precisely. The room immediately after the atrium has a few panels to hack for Sesa and should contain instructions for visitors to the facility to inform them of containment protocols._

"Do they have protocols in the event of a breach?" I ask and I walk around a corner into the atrium. Its glass floor pings with my heels.

_Of course. Kill anything that moves._

I snort in amusement. Of course it would be that way. _Crazy genocidal bastards…_

The next room has a ring of platforms suspended above a lower level. In the center of the room is a formation of four panels that seems to be displaying identical information. Of course, it is all in the Forerunner language and I am unable to read any of it.

_The facility's systems are all integrated together. I can infiltrate their hardware from here and propagate throughout the facility's control systems._

I acknowledge her by dropping down from the glass upper catwalks and rubbing my hands along each panel in the center of the room. The nanites in my Warframe infiltrate the interfaces and Sera's presence begins to subvert the main computer's control of the facility. In a moment, she reaches the main computer's data storage and the whole of the facility's history is downloaded directly to my brain. The language of the Forerunners quickly decodes and I can suddenly read the cheerful greeting on the panel.

**Welcome to Research Facility 345-776! We are happy to have you review our Facility! Please take note that [Containment Protocol: A] is in effect. Download Protocols? [Y/N]**

Sera's ransacking of the main computer makes downloading the Protocols redundant but I decide to download them anyway. From the bottom of the panel's dais, a small device slides out. It seems to be some kind of data storage. I simply put it in my suit's limited nano-storage for examination later.

**Protocol Downloaded. Thank you for conforming to proper Containment procedures.**

_Yaru, I've finished infiltrating the system. I will open the doors between this room and the relevant observation room._

I walk to the now unlocked door and continue on down a hallway to an elevator. It is a very slow cargo elevator with a small ring of platform and ramps. I take the time to examine Forerunner architecture. It is very… ugly- all boxy struts and sharp edges. It is nothing like the clean organic lines of the Orokin Void Towers or even the Tenno designed Dojos. The straight lines and occasional circles etched into the white-green metal just add to the eye-sore that is Forerunner aesthetics. It is just so crude.

The elevator eventually reaches the bottom of the shaft and I walk through yet another hallway to a large room with two floors. The bottom floor contains two platforms with holographic panels at their corners and two raised benches near a door at the far end of the room. The top floor, the floor I am on, is separated from the floor below by glass with scrolling holographic writing that flows from one side of the room to the next. Sera interrupts the flow of writing for a moment before it resumes as if nothing happened.

_I have left a message for Sesa here. Hopefully they will not rush forward to break containment. From here, there is a short elevator to the bottom floor. The research notes on the Flood were kept away from the facility's main data storage. The panels below have data keys to retrieve the encrypted data from the secondary data storage unit._

"Where would I find that?" I question and step to the unlocked elevator door.

_It is actually in this room. Below each platform, there is a manual lock that raises the platforms and exposes two drives. Once both are released, they manually link together and you will be asked to present the data keys._

"Simple enough." I acknowledge and step off from the elevator. I quickly step up to the closest platform and trust my hand into a hardlight holograph. After a few seconds, the key is extracted and I move onto the next. I tear through each hologram in silence. Sera is doing most of the work in hacking the panels anyway, so I do not mind letting her work in peace. When the panels are hacked and the keys collected, I quickly stoop and flip the simple manual locks beneath the platforms before stepping back. The panels on top of the platforms flicker off and each platform rises up.

The drives sparkle with blue light covered in a shimmering energy field. Presumably, it is some sort of energy barrier but I do not bother asking what it is as it disappears a moment after both platforms have fully risen. From the sides of each platform, a spindly metal arm unfolds and extends to meet its counterpart in the space between the platforms. Eight small holograms flicker into existence and ask for a specific key to be placed in each hardlight receptacle. I quickly walk down the line and let Sera project each key as I graze my fingers on each hologram. A moment later, Sera reports our success.

_Data retrieved. While we make our way out of the facility, we can review this data._

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**A/N: Spelling and grammar updated.**


	7. Chapter 7

I walk back to the elevator and Sera takes care of activating it. As soon as the platforms starts its journey back to the second floor, the linkage and two raised drive platforms sink back into the floor. The holograms flash back into existence in their usual blue. Momentarily, they flicker rose and orange before they return to normal.

"Those are the last holograms we need to access, right?" I ask while I read. I could simply absorb the information but if we are simply moving to an extraction point and it is just outside the facility as I suspect, there will be no enemy presence and I can afford to absorb the information in a more natural and comfortable way. No matter how quickly my mind can work and how closely Tenno are to the massively powerful computers in our Warframes we are still human.

The walk out of the facility is spent in silence. I find the information on the Flood fascinating. Compared to the age of Orokin and my memories of what occurred during the Vigil, these Flood are incredibly weak. Even the monstrosities named Graveminds are pale shadows of the former apex forms of Technocyte. The Lephantis-class mutation would tear a Gravemind to shreds with its array of biological and elemental weaponry. The Phorid could possibly have a chance of doing so as well. Its auditory weaponry might have a chance of simply liquefying the significantly less stable physical forms of Graveminds. The information these Forerunners obtained both infuriates me and makes me incredibly joyful. These weak enemies will be no problem for me to deal with, not with my immunity to the original Technocyte and the natural dominance I maintain in strength, speed, and intelligence compared to the majority of forms. The history of humanity and its previous power before the Forerunner's arrogance doomed the galaxy makes me incredibly proud. The fury at their stupidity wars with my surge of happiness.

"How could these idiots been so blind? So… weak? Humanity was at a lower level of technology compared to them but they could not fight even a fraction of the time that Humanity has spent combating the virus. Their only response was to wipe the slate clean… what were they even thinking…?" I am even more repulsed by the ugly, blocky architecture of this facility. These casually genocidal maniacs actually managed to do what the Sentients could only dream of. The places where this "Mantle" are mentioned are both ironic and contradictory. Only a race with an arrogance such as theirs would assume that they had the right to end all life in the galaxy while simultaneously claiming that their right to guide the galaxy was in service of life.

Sera is quiet for the trip up the long elevator shaft that returns to the welcoming center. Near the end though, I feel tentative fingers rub my back. I begin to calm from my essentially pointless anger almost automatically.

"I should be yelling at you for doing this during a mission…" I murmur as the elevator bumps gently when it reaches the top of the shaft and I walk down the stark white hallway back to the welcoming center. Sera remains silent but continues her ministrations; I continue to passively accept her attention.

Extraction proceeds without a hitch and soon enough I am once again moving through the Liset's superstructure, past the engines and Foundry, and finally revolving around to see the ceiling of the Armory.

Sera's voice comes from the Liset's speakers, "We should practice in simulation until the Human ship and Covenant fleet arrive. Human vessels no longer have the long stretches of walls that allow for standard free-running combat. Covenant vessels require you to climb and descend smoothly between surfaces- Sangheili aesthetics call for inclined planes for most walkways."

I sit up, climb out of the person-shaped groove, and Sera rotates it back into the Liset. I remain frozen for a moment when I put my weapons back into the Foundry for deconstruction and turn to look at the Arsenal. I am irrationally afraid of the machine now and I cannot figure out why.

"Yaru, you should strip your frame. When you are ready, join me in the simulation and we will begin with a Covenant Corvette."

Sera goes silent while I apprehensively approach and enter the Arsenal. The same melting routine that accompanied the removal of my Loki begins the breakdown of my Nova Prime. My helmet dissolves away and I patiently wait in the restraints, eyes straight ahead and my body ignored. Soon enough, I no longer have the excuse to remain focused straight ahead; the restraints no longer hold me in place and Sera is waiting for me. I sigh before looking down and examining myself.

As I expected, my body is quite attractive- all sensual curves and hints of tight wire taught lean muscle. My hands are smaller than I am used to seeing; the Warframe's armor hid this detail from me. Without the Warframe's enhanced sensory systems interpreting my body is a different experience. Suddenly my wider hips feel strange- they have a tendency to twist more than I am used to, the new weight of my breasts once again throws my balance off when I consciously try to correct my posture, a range of senses are screaming signals into my brain that are alien to me. I growl angrily at my lack of control and then let out a small scream of frustration as my anger amplifies by feeding back on itself endlessly; my usual mind tricks and habits utterly fail to help me.

"Enter into the simulation, Yaru." Sera's voice is sympathetic. "We can work through this where you will be safe."

I grit my teeth and hold back a poisonous retort but I still think it, _If you hadn't fucking turned me into a woman I wouldn't have this fucking problem…_

I carefully make my way up the ramp to the navigation dais where I kneel, almost overbalancing and tumbling over, and close my eyes. My raging emotions slowly, ever so slowly, calm with time. None of my meditation techniques truly work. A moment before my frustration starts to build again I decide to try something very basic, simple visualization. The standard aid for young Tenno is to imagine an open flame and I begin there. Surprisingly, or perhaps not so surprisingly, the image of a candle flame slowly morphs into Sera's holographic aurora. The similar color is an easy transition- I do not even truly notice until I have been staring at it in my mind's eye for a few minutes. The simulated environment slowly builds around thoughts of Sera; soon, the room is fully formed and Sera is sitting facing me in the meditation yang dot within the yin portion of the circle.

Our meditation stretches on for a time, neither one of us willing to break the silence and peace that permeates the room. The burbling of the water fountain is calming and in this environment, this sanctuary, I am not so bothered by my transformation. Eventually, I become curious once more but Sera seems to know exactly when I am ready to ask a question. She stands and bends down to grab my hand before leading me to the couch. I did not notice the covered dish that sat upon it during our meditation but she clearly anticipated a longer stay in the simulation. She pours two orange aromatic teas and passes a cup to me before curling up on one side of the couch. She is reclined on her side with her legs tucked under her, knees facing away from the couch back. I mirror her repose on the other side of the couch and adjust a little to face her. She smiles and makes a vague gesture which I interpret as leave to begin questioning her.

"Why do I not feel different here?"

"I have masked the emotions you are feeling for now. They are the first thing you must learn to deal with. Then the Covenant corvette and finally a Human frigate."

"I see… and the meditation techniques I know? They took many years to develop. How do you plan to overcome that?"

"The changes you will need to implement are minor. Truly, it is a matter of focusing something different within you. Neither female not male Tenno were very vocal about the gender-specific forms of training they undertook. Very few knew about the differences in some techniques between genders, clans, and genetic lines."

I hum and sip my tea for a while and enjoy the calm. Sera seems to be in agreement with my implicit request to merely be. She is examining me with a small smile and her eyes look content and slightly pleased.

After another sip of tea I ask her, "What?"

"I find your form very pleasing. It suits you." Her smile drops and she seems nervous when delivering her compliment. I suppose my reactions have not been very positive so far so her reaction is understandable.

"Thank you," I awkwardly reply. My heart speeds inexplicably and I blush before I sloppily reign in my emotions and I am able to slip back into tranquility.

Sera smile again and starts smirking, "I especially enjoy your pink hair. The streaks of brown are very fetching."

I automatically reach up to tug a strand of long hair from over my shoulder and examine it. As she said, it is pink- not a shocking variety but most definitely pink. The brown streaks she mentions are perfectly formed, there is no transition from one color to the other-simply sharp boundaries between the colors.

I hum noncommittally, "It doesn't seem too bad, I suppose."

Sera shakes her head and her smile widens but she doesn't say anything. I am confused with her actions but decide to let her remain uncontested. I don't think she is trying to insult me in some way.

"We should begin," she states when she is a bit more normal, "the first thing that you should know about women is…"

* * *

"Good… good…" Sera's voice is calm as I finally master the ability to sideline my emotions and control myself. I am surprised it only took a little under a day to modify my own personally developed techniques. I am also pleased that I am once again able to control myself and simply put aside my joy and remain in my tranquil state without a feedback loop making the emotion stronger with time.

"Remaining in control should simply be an exercise of will now, my Yaru." Sera stands and gentle rubs the back of my neck underneath the braid she wove while I practiced my meditations. Her hands were her form of distraction while I worked and a great motivation to wipe the perpetual blush I sported while I worked. There was just something… indescribably amazing about her playing with my hair… suffice to say I am now happy to be able to hide my reaction from her.

She has been quite forward, in actuality, while I have been kneeling. She brushed, rubbed, and stroked various parts of me while I tried to control myself. All under the pragmatic pretense of helping me learn control, but I cannot help but color her actions with a different shade of understanding- she said that she wished to stay with me- within her literal words is the implicit understanding that she wishes to be my bonded.

This form makes the idea so much more palatable. It simply bothers me less that she is so close to me. There is the surface discomfort but deep within it is so much easier to just give in and accept her offer.

I stand from my kneeling position and stretch. My balance is still off after the half day of acclimatization but it's not bad enough to anger me anymore. I simply adjust and move one, as I always do.

Sera slips her arm into mine and leads me over to a door that materializes next to the fountain. Beyond is an unfamiliar hallway. It is nothing like any human, Orokin, or Sentient design. It is truly and utterly alien. The hallway is purple and metallic, pale green lights set in ellipsoid alcoves light the walking path, a slightly raised platform that leads to a door that fits seamlessly with the hallway's ambiance but clashes horribly with the clean metal lines of the door through which we entered.

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**A/N: Spelling and grammar updated.**


	8. Chapter 8

AN: Rating adjusted.

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This alien scene must be the Corvette. The hallway gently declines to the opposite door.

"As you can see, you will need to control your descent slightly when wall running. The alcoves periodically set into the walls will need to be avoided. What do you think?" Sera asks me.

I consider the walls and floor for a moment, "I think I might be able to adapt the high-speed combat drills for close quarters fighting. Instead of long stretches of running, I might be able to bounce from wall to floor to wall, wall to ceiling to wall, or simply between walls. It would be less a method of evasion than it would be a modified melee charge. I think the alcoves might serve as good cover for combat but their placement is just close enough that it would only serve well at long ranges…"

"For the first simulation, I will place enemies slightly closer together to practice the maneuver, then. Firing from cover simply does not need to be practiced…" Sera nods and tugs on my arm and smiling.

"The Covenant is broken into eight Races, in order of danger: Sangheili, Jiralhanae, Huragok, Lekgolo, Yanme'e, Unggoy, San' Shyuum, and Kig-Yar. You know of the Sangheili in passing the rest are not known to you. None were even fully evolved on their planets in the time of the Orokin." Sera said and gently pulled me down the hallway to a large room with a large forcefield-bound hole in the hull. There are two weapons mounted in the forcefield's boundary. We continue on through a level but twisting hallway to another large room, this time full of holographic interfaces and a large holographic projector showing the large ring station orbiting the system's large gas giant.

Sera waves her hand and the hologram is replaced with an alien being.

I take it in silently. It is a digitigrade biped, two and a half meters tall. It has cloven hooves and scaled, four fingered hands. Its legs are double-jointed with both a forward and backward facing joint. Its face is very alien with its permanently open mouth and four mandible mouth.

Sera, still with her arm hooked with mine and leaning in comfortably, gestures with her free arm and the skin melts away to reveal musculature, after a few minutes of examination she removes those to reveal the more vital systems: cardiovascular, digestive, nervous, immune. I am silent through each layer and withhold my comments, though my mind races with possibilities and the beginning stages of strategies.

The process is repeated for the other races of the Covenant and I slowly come to a few conclusions and judgements. The Jiralhanae are fierce but their nervous systems were optimized poorly for high technology combat, the Yanme'e were better engineers than fighters, the Kig-Yar were surprisingly fragile compared to their supposed usage. My mind raced for a few moments as all eight races slowly revolved in front in various stages of decomposition and different locations highlighted.

"From now on, the simulations will contain combat capable versions of these species. Even if we will eventually steer the Covenant from its course, they are not our allies now. Not yet."

"Hmm… killing them will make it harder to convert them later." I muse. Sera nods and lays her head onto my shoulder.

"Yes. But if we could convince the Supreme Commander… lives might be spared on both sides. He is an intelligent and cunning leader. His house is strong within his culture and has a voice within the highest chambers of the Covenant leadership. His acknowledgement of the dangerous of this place will plant the seeds of doubt. It would then be up to us to ensure that they spread properly, without destroying the Covenant from within."

"I would imagine that with such a diverse group of species, there are quite complicated politics in play…" I grumble.

"Oh, Yaru, I would not expect you to subject yourself to that," Sera's tone is amused and she quietly laughs at my reluctance to engage in political battle. **Of course** she knew exactly what I was **really** saying, "we will merely be pointing out the facts to those that matter. Let them come to the conclusions they must to justify their Great Journey."

I grin in relief and playfully poke her side, "So… combat simulation?"

She dances away from my side and unlinks her arm from mine, "Yes. I will join you. We have approximately three days until _The Pillar of Autumn_ arrives. I will… fight as your bonded."

I frown but don't contest her last sentence. Truthfully, I don't want to admit that I am less displeased by the situation than by her presumption.

She snaps her fingers and suddenly a free standing Arsenal and Foundry interface float in front of us. I can see what she is doing in a small dialogue box at the side of my Warframe and weapon selection tools. She is quickly flicking through Warframes until she stops at a Saryn. I raise an eyebrow, she doesn't seem the type of woman to truly excel with a Saryn but I hold my tongue. I ignore the small part of me that notes that I would most definitely be displeased if her choice of Warframe was indicative of her personality- I am quite happy with her manner as she is.

I scroll through until I come to an old favorite- the Banshee. I quickly select my modifications to enhance Silence, Sonar, and my energy reservoir. I automatically scroll through to three more favorites: a Dera plasma rifle, Orthos Prime, and Castanas. I modify my Dera for enhanced bolt velocity, fire rate, and radiation damage. My Orthos is modified for Corrosive effects and the Castanas are given Blast and Corrosive elemental effects. All in all, my load out is quite balanced. I look over to see Sera's choices: A Saryn modified for heavy sustainability, a Cernos modified for Blast damage and augmented with explosive arrows, Ankyros Prime fists, and a Detron modified as mine was on the mining station. Her load out is made for long term deployment. For a moment, we both study each other's choices before looking up at each other, nodding, and accepting our choices. Our armaments simply appear around on us, as if they had always been there. The comforting sensation of the Warframe's enhanced sensors subsume my normal senses and I am ready.

The bridge is suddenly full of enemies- there are seven Sangheili of different color armors and fifteen Unggoy scattered around the room. I do not hesitate to Silence the room; I am already moving as my Silence blankets the room and the forces in the room look around in confusion and simulated fear. The Sangheili begin bellowing orders that barely overcome the Silence damper and I run up one of the tall computer pillars in the room. Two Elites disappear and the rest scan the room for threats. The Unggoy are in disarray, one even tugs at a Sangheili's armor-plated legs and gesticulates wildly. One of the Sangheili looks up and points before pulling out some sort of rifle. It spits blue plasma bolts at me that burn through the air to splash against my shields. Sera has been busy on the other side of the room. She released a cloud of poisonous motes into the air that, while not breathed in by the group of Unggoy that materialized around her, still stuck to their bare skin and poisoned them with terrible debilitating pain inducing spores. Unfortunately for the small statured aliens, pain is the least of their problems as the group of five disintegrate into a pile of dangerous biomass. She Molts and fades from view.

I return my attention to the Sangheili below and make use of the high accuracy of my Dera to begin decimating the enemies below me. I flip gracefully from the pillar and fire in the air at the Sangheili. Its shields protect it reasonably well from my fire until a Radiation proc utterly confuses it and it turns to fire on his partner. I land on all fours and immediately have to roll to the side as a bright double pronged sword of lavender-white plasma swipes through the air where I just landed. A slight distortion enhanced by the Warframe's optics outlines one the invisible Sangheili. I stand and throw myself backward into a roll and while firing my Dera once more. The close range, insane rate of fire, and minor radioactive discharge decimate the stealth systems on the Sangheili's armor and he fades into view. A moment later he simply falls to the floor, a smoking hole where the Sonar painted its vulnerable point.

I turn and charge into the pair of Sangheili, the confused one and his wildly backpedaling partner. I do not give the retreating Sangheili any time to react. I slide, jump, and spin through the air like a drill. The Corrosive edge of my Orthos Prime, momentum, and inertia do the rest. The Sangheili is torn apart. His death snaps the confused Sangheili back to reality. The Silence drops and his angry scream alerts the rest of the bridge to the carnage. The slight lull in the fight allows Sera to reemerge behind another group of Unggoy, eight this time, and she covers them in Spores. She fades away once more and leaves behind another Molted Skin that detonates after a few moments, killing her targeted Unggoy. The frantic screams and sudden death provide more confusion and I use the opportunity to back away from the Sangheili in the center of the pillars to cover. Unfortunately, it is also the location of another invisible foe and I am not fast enough to avoid a highly dangerous plasma blade. My shields crumble like paper under the implacable heat and magnetic fields holding the sword cohesive. My armor manages to blunt the blade's potential but is left with a black scar.

I snarl and release a scream that is amplified in the resonating chambers within my helmet. The sound exits in a violent shockwave that knocks the Sangheili across the room and shorts out his shields and stealth systems. His sword and armor are unaffected and he recovers faster than I like. His Sonar dot is long expired, so I simply concentrate my fire on his pelvis. Without shields, the plasma bolts simply burn through his armor into the flesh underneath. His torso tumbles to the floor as his legs are cruelly detached from his upper half.

As my shields recover I blanket the room in another Silence. Sera takes the time to inform me of the situation in the room as she is safely able to reconnoiter invisibly. She speaks directly from my helmet speakers.

"Three Sangheili eliminated. Twelve Unggoy eliminated. Four Sangheili and five Unggoy left. We fight our way from this location to a hangar at the back of the ship. Engaging marked target."

I am momentarily thrown off by her cold tone of voice. I find I dislike the ingrained Tenno reflex to emotionlessly interact with each other taught by my clan. I never subscribed to it and it bothers me that she would follow it, knowing I dislike it so. I forcefully push aside my preoccupation- it is not the time or place.

I turn the corner into the last group of Unggoy and their Sangheili commander. Somehow, he maintained discipline through the chaotic loss of sound and screams of death. He points at me and the entire group levels weapons and fire without hesitation. Unlike the sword, their inefficient plasma weaponry simply does not have the power to collapse my shields. I have enough time to release a shockwave that blows them off their feet and I charge after them. I drop into a slide and spin my Orthos violently around; I leave behind five dead Unggoy and continue my spin into horizontal slash that slams against the Sangheili's shields. They barely manage to hold and my opponent is able to unleash a punishing kick to my core. I fly backwards and land ass first on the floor. My momentum turns my landing into a graceful backward roll I use to come back to my feet and charge once again. This time, my swing collapses his shields and the Corrosive edge ensures my slash opens him from shoulder to hip; he is dead before he hits the ground.

Sera has positioned herself behind the center Sangheili with a clear shot. She pulls out her Detron and the destructive shotgun fires once. The Sangheili does not even have time to react before the highly destructive flechettes collapse his shields, eat through his helmet, and pulp his head. Sera gracefully drops into a spinning crouch and turns to fire toward a Sangheili that immediately started to fire on her when she decloaked. Four blasts of her Detron streak downrange but their speed is slow enough that the Sangheili can jump away with a grunt. Unfortunately for him, his jump is toward my position and I easily impale him on my Orthos.

I look back at Sera to watch her gracefully sway out of the way of a powerful swing of a plasma sword before counterattacking with a swift jab and uppercut. The blades on the end of her fists focus her strength to an unrelenting pressure and the two strikes nearly overload the Sangheili's shields. Suddenly, Sera drops to the floor and attempts to sweep the Sangheili from his feet. Her opponent jumps over her legs but Sera is completely unfazed. She continues her spin and uses the momentum to power a vicious hook that overloads her foe's shields and buries the blade in the Sangheili's head, its armor no match for the monomolecular blade at the end of her fist. Sera yanks her arm back violently to pull the blade out of her enemy and turns to face me.

"Enemies eliminated. We proceed." I grimace under my helmet at her tone but nod. I will address it later. I try to ignore the voice that tells me that I am far too sensitive about this, especially in her case.


	9. Chapter 9

AN: This chapter fought me every step of the way. Still not happy with it, but I haven't posted in days so here it is. Will probably put in a time skip and fill in Yaru's thoughts and the resolution to his unease in a series of flashbacks.

* * *

Sera walks to a door and takes position at the edge to wait for me. As I approach, she pulls out her Cernos and nocks a blunt arrow. I motion for her to take the forward position as I have no silenced weapons. Still, I am running through the simulation to practice melee combat in these hallways so it is ultimately a moot point. We creep on silent feet through the hallway to the great forcefield bound bay. There is a surprisingly low number of enemies in the room: three Sangheili and seven Unggoy. Fortunately for Sera, the three Sangheili are all in view and completely oblivious to the revealing Sonar I activate in the hallway. If she is fast and accurate, she might be able to silently assassinate all three before her bolts explode. Of course, as an AI, she easily has the ability.

She counts down from three to notify me when to begin into the room while firing at the Sangheili. The farthest is the weakest of the three and even without the Sonar dot it is easily killed. Before it even hits the floor, the next arrow impales the next farthest Sangheili manning a turret. The last arrow slams into the closest enemy just as the first begins to explode.

I sprint into the room and wall run up to a walkway to engage the reacting Unggoy. Their panic and disarray helps me dispatch them quickly with brutal, wide swings of my Orthos Prime. Without even shields, their armor melts under the Corrosive edge.

We both take position at the next door where Sera slings her bow and makes a gesture with her Ankyros Prime gauntlets to signal her reliance on them for the coming fight down the long hallway. In this direction, the hallway slopes gently upward. I use another Sonar before passing through the door: five Sangheili and another fifteen Unggoy.

Sera charges forward without attempting any complicated wall running or sliding. In contrast, I attempt to wallrun slightly upward with limited success. The slight curvature of the wall makes it very difficult to gain good purchase on the wall and the magnetic systems in my gloves do not really help and there is a matching curvature near the top of the wall. It would be far easier to run down the slope than up. I am still able to quickly charge the first Sangheili, conveniently left for me by Sera as she sprinted past to the second and his group of five Unggoy.

I use the force from my jump off the wall and the pull of gravity to smash my Orthos Prime down in a overhead strike. The Sangheili's shielding stops the blow cold though his shield are left with a slight glow laced with occasional crackles of electricity. His armor seems to be slightly more advanced than the Sangheili we slaughtered before. I backflip out of the way of the startled, wild swing of retaliation and stab forward. Another hit, this time elementally proc'd, overloads his shields. I abort my stab to avoid a slash from behind by another Sangheili in the same armor system. The new enemy distracts me sufficiently to allow the enemy with his shield's overloaded time to enter some sort of stasis field.

I take advantage of the Sangheili's crouched stance to give myself a bit of height for my next attack. I jump on its wide back, release a Shockwave toward the floor to gain height and quickly flip to orient my feet toward the ceiling. My momentum continues upward but I absorb the shock by bending my knees and push back as hard as I can- as if jumping. This time my overhead strike is accompanied with too much energy for the newer armor system to handle and the Sangheili topples forward in two pieces.

In the time it takes me to handle one Sangheili, Sera has managed to decimate her group of Unggoy and their leader. When she first waded into their group, she released a cloud of toxic spores that latched onto the unprotected areas of the Unggoy's armor. A quick Molt allows her to fade from view for a few crucial seconds to scurry behind the Sangheili before she detonates the toxic skin and ending the suffering of the infected Unggoy. She lands two bladed punches to the Sangheili's back while invisible and, after the shed skin detonates, another vicious punch to the back of its head- decapitating it.

I tear my attention away from Sera's surprisingly brutal form of combat and pay attention to the Sangheili that has come out of stasis. He seems to have recovered his shields and is brandishing two plasma swords in each four fingered hand. His stature compared to my petite height strikes me as amusing for a moment before he charges forward and deftly launches into a series of slashes and stabs obviously designed to overwhelm a slower opponent. Its weightlessness and nearly impervious edge is uniquely suited for this form of high speed combat; unfortunately, no Tenno is as slow as this alien would wish nor do they have weapons that will fall to plasma weaponry. The energy field that contains the vitriolic edge of my weapon easily repels the alien magnetic fields that maintain the plasma blade's coherency. I lose myself momentarily in the exercise of simply countering the simulated alien's moves. It reminds me of the old training sessions before the Silence. My thoughts are interrupted by Sera's cold voice and I am almost impaled when I monetarily lose concentration.

"All enemies eliminated. Finish up." Sera speaks in a clipped monotone.

_This has to be dealt with. Now._ I am both afraid and angry at myself. She has too much power over me.

I channel my frustration into my next swing and knock the Sangheili back. My blade slams into him so powerfully his shield generator overloads and he is blasted into the wall. I follow up with a Shockwave to pin him for a split second and run up to vivisect him from groin to shoulder.

"Done. Now, what the hell Sera?" I turn around and freeze and the carnage behind her. The enemies are not so much dead as mutilated. Stains of blue and purple blood are splattered liberally among torn corpses and the sickly green miasma of disease and corrosive agent burn and melt the bodies away. As Tenno, we are mostly immune to the horrors of violent death but this… it is different.

"We must continue, Yaru. We must take a human transport to a Light Cruiser." Sera speaks after a moment of silent staring. I flinch inside my helmet. Her voice has returned to her normal gentle tone. I am not looking forward to the simulated ride.


	10. Chapter 10

AN: And back to our regularly scheduled programming. Sort of.

* * *

The ship is eerie during its night cycle. The Void Engines are slowed until the deck barely hums beneath my knees, the life support system is clicking and whirling periodically to cycle the correct sequence of healing and stimulatory chemicals to gently push my body to its most efficient state. The mild paralytic mixed into the atmosphere and my preoccupied musing is enough to keep me upright in my meditation. My exhaustion fights to pull me to sleep but I do not want to wake up in the simulated quarters. I am reluctant to join Sera. I could, of course, sleep in the Arsenal's provided sleeping arrangement- little more than the person shaped recess that instead of being used to exit the ship during missions, is padded slightly and remains within the superstructure of the ship.

I am once again male. After the disaster of an argument in the Pelican drop ship, as Sera called it, and the uncanny sense of dread I felt in the human vessel I simply cannot deal with her. I look down at my hands- my metallic, inhuman hands and let the last day randomly play across my mind.

The most jarring aspect was most definitely being forced to switch genders as future missions require. How could I possibly communicate with anyone if I am always switching bodies? What would anyone believe? It makes me think of a persistent rumor that we were simply advanced AI in combat constructs that was perpetuated during the Golden Age of the Orokin. What hope is there now of understanding, when I no longer resemble humanity at all? What hope is there when I am not even permanent enough for any person I meet to understand what I wish to do?

Sera's demeanor was the next bothersome subject- I could definitely have handled her better when I asked her not to adopt the war mask. That damn reflex was a part of the reason that AI rumor persisted, I am sure, along with a range of unsavory gossip about the nature of a Tenno. The uninformed human populace quickly forgot what the Tenno meant to them after the Orokin uplifted our race. Like most subjects of politics and semantics, there was a sharp divide in consensus whether the Tenno were agents of good or evil, evidence and reason be damned.

The visceral distaste for the focusing tool, the war mask, simply overwhelmed me- especially in my less emotionally stable female form. It is a poor excuse for my own lack of self-control, especially after Sera's aid in controlling myself before the simulation but I suppose I should not have expected perfect control after only a day of practice. I will have to practice for far longer to retain the iron control I have worked for in my male form.

The final problem I ponder is this Covenant. They are both fascinating and terrifying. Aliens were… uncommon… during the Golden Age. Not for any reason like war or xenophobia- how could we when the Orokin were our metaphorical parents. The galaxy was so young during the Golden Age. By the Orokin's reckoning, it was about four billion years after the formation of the universe when they became starfaring, roughly five when they became post-physical, and about eight billion years old when they encountered humanity. There were at most twenty starfaring races during the Golden Age and, of those, only six that were regular trading partners with humanity. Even then, they were wary of a race that was as contradictory as humanity, not to mention the Orokin presence and the aftermath of the Sentient War. In the Covenant alone, there are roughly ten member races and they are all hostile to humanity- their technological inferior. There is no greater threat staying their hand- humanity is alone and outnumbered.

Sera's explanation about the current state of war between the Covenant and humanity was not comforting. I could think of very little that could make the situation worse than it already was. The religious impetus of the Covenant social structure was their most basic tenant, almost like the Tenno's Code or the Orokin's Light; to fully negotiate with them, to stop this war, would be against the ingrained responses inherent to their society. How could I undermine something so ingrained as to be automatic? Humanity has a long history of religious zealotry, for good and for ill. In this case it is bad for humanity, but who can say whether this Great Journey might not be to its benefit at some future time? Would it be wrong to try and undermine the Covenant's social structure simply for survival?

I let my thoughts slowly turn in circles for a time and ponder my next moves but before I can begin brooding, my immediate future becomes far more important. Sera is ghosting fingers along the back of my neck and I am unable to twitch away due to the paralytic. I lost our argument quite badly on the human transport. Oh, I achieved my goal but Sera expertly manipulated concessions out of me that, while not entirely unpleasant, I am not comfortable giving her. She will not don the war mask again, though she will mention it to whoever our future students will be. Her price in exchange was acceleration of our "relationship". It is impossible to tell if she is entirely AI or not at the best of times with her personal history and overly friendly advances but she displays such a precise model of how I am in thought and emotion that I am unsure if she is not more calculator than lifeform. She knew exactly how far to push me after my angry shouting in the Pelican to get exactly the right concessions from me.

"Sleep, Yaru. You must rest." Sera cajoles from the cockpit speakers.

I try to ignore her for a few minutes while she continues her ministrations. She could call on our earlier agreement to motivate me to drop into a deeper trance but she doesn't. It would be unnecessary- I know it is only a matter of time before I join her. My devotion to the Code and my personal sense of honor expect no less than strict adherence to my word.

I sigh before giving up and slipping into a trance with the help of the atmospheric chemical cocktail and a constant rhythmic thunder of Taiko drums.

The room I have appeared in is magnificent. It is almost the size of the living area with the fountain and meditation platform. There are three doors here marked with holographic glyphs that any Tenno would recognize. The smallest door bears a black water drop suspended above an animated ripple- the bathroom. I imagine a simulacrum of personal effects are stored inside. The largest door contains the glyph for Common. It is an animated checker board pattern that occasionally switches the top left square with a random box in the rest of the pattern. The final door leads to an unknown room. The glyph is easily recognizable- it is the glyph of the Lotus. This symbol carries many meanings for the Tenno- home, safety, guidance… and secrets. I imagine that behind that door is Sera's room. In this place, it is almost fitting that she has an element of secrecy in fact rather than implication. It is a very real example that Sera is still mostly an unknown even if she is benevolent, kind, and beautiful. She is also manipulative, secretive, and hidden. I frown at my last thoughts, truly, she is no different than the Diffreya Qadis that have come before.

The door to the bathroom slides open, accompanied by a gentle chime. My thoughts immediately train wreck and grind to a halt. Sera is dressed in a shift that billows gently as she walks. It is neither indecent nor revealing but it suits her in an undefinable way that draws my eye and forces my thoughts to a standstill.

She remains silent as she approaches and holds out her hand to pull me up from my kneeling positon on the floor. I absently note that this room also has a nicely crafted meditation platform, for two of course. I stand with her help and she wraps my hand with her free hand. She pulls me toward the door with the glyph of the Lotus.

It opens with another quiet chime and beyond the threshold I see a simple bedroom. I suppose I should revise my guess- the previous room was a seating room and antechamber for my sleeping quarters. Well, our sleeping quarters. I feel a twinge of shame for thinking so poorly of Sera, it was uncharitable and childish to apply such an uncharitable slant on her motivations and actions.

"Relax, Yaru," Sera easily picks up on my unease, "you will not be able to rest if you are so tense."

I nod and close my eyes for a moment to center myself. I easily navigate the room blind and sit on the bed. I restrain the unidentifiable emotions within me and ever so slowly return to my usual placid calm. When I open my eyes, Sera is frowning at me slightly. She is once again very close to me, standing right in front of me between my legs, but despite her proximity, this time I do not allow her alluring state of dress to affect me.

"I did not quite mean you to suppress yourself so, but…" Sera hesitates before sitting beside me and grabbing a hand to hold, "I suppose for a first attempt, it is understandable."

I nod uncertainly, "This is acceptable to our bargain?"

"For now." Sera smiles gently, but it carries a hidden something just below the surface. I suppress the urge to grimace at the dual, conflicting sensation of anticipation and dread. We awkwardly sit on the edge of the bed for a time while I order my thoughts beneath my enforced calm and Sera waits for me to confirm I am ready to sleep. After I can procrastinate no longer, I disentangle our finger and start sliding backward up the bed and Sera follows me after a moment's hesitation. We shimmy under the blankets quickly and the lights automatically dim and red-shift. I sigh and roll onto my side where Sera happily presses against my chest. I am pleased when I have no real discomfort; after a few minutes I drift off to sleep peacefully.

* * *

The remaining two days before the arrival of the Pillar of Autumn are spent in training. The disadvantages I encountered in my first female Warframe are more easily ameliorated if I spend all my time acclimating to the nuances that threw me off so badly. Every day, for a few hours, I would review a Warframe that I was already familiar with in its male iteration as a woman and complete objectives at Sera's direction. The unfamiliar hallways of various Covenant ships were slowly memorized and catalogued. Human vessels were similarly examined though my time in my race's craft left an odd feeling of familiarity and unease, the former easily explainable and the latter far more worrying. I did not know what was causing my aversion to human design but I continued on regardless.

You have four minutes and a half to return to the bridge, Yaru. Hurry. Sera urges me on. She is carrying out her role as Lotus on this mission. I am not ashamed to admit that I miss her presence at my side though I deny any emotional rationale for wishing for her help. Solo missions are a painful reminder of the time before the Silence. Her help is invaluable and she is a good operative.

I sprint down a hallway and disregard the incoming fire from Unggoy packs in the cross-shaped intersections that lead to the various underdecks that make up the Supercarrier's engineering section. For a normal human, a four minute hard sprint from aft to fore of a twenty-eight kilometer ship would be impossible. For a Volt, however… modified for sprinting speed and entirely comfortable with high speed combat… it is almost possible. Every new hallway I pass down mounts up the pressure I feel. The timer in the corner of my HUD is flashing red at me and even though Sera is not speaking, I can almost imagine the tense expression on her face.

I burst onto the bridge with thirty seconds to go and my extreme speed causes me to skid right into a pair of Jiralhanae who do not hesitate to swat me away violently. Their strength is far greater than the Sangheili and I am slammed into a console. Twenty seconds.

I do not even bother to jump to my feet- I release my energy reserves and trigger an Overload. Fifteen seconds. The lights on the bridge, rather than creating arcs of high voltage electricity are powered by chemical reactions; the Overload vaporizes their containment components and the deceptively small fixtures explode with incredible concussive force. In my magnetic field, I am protected from the force of the explosion but the unfortunate Jiralhanae are simply torn apart by the wild forces.

Ten seconds. I touch down and layer as many Electric Shields as I can in as short a time as possible facing the clear steel viewport before pulling out my Boar Prime. I unload a full magazine into the layered shield but the viewport remains intact.

The ship shudders as the charges begin to go off. I have maybe a few seconds before the slipstream drive explodes. I mechanically unload another magazine into the viewport which of course does not even waver. I let out a frustrated sigh and wait. A few seconds later, the simulation whites out.

The now more familiar and welcoming living area reforms around me and my Warframe and equipment shatter and ablate into bright yellow motes. Sera is kneeling in front of the fountain and looking into the water. Without looking around, she pats the empty space beside her on the mossy platform. I walk over and kneel beside her. The water in the small pool is unnaturally still and an image of the ring is displayed on its surface. I frown, as a portion of the ring's gray outer edge lights up in a flash for an instant.

"There it is, dear." Sera gestures and the image ripples before focusing on a cruiser. I hum thoughtfully.

"Will we be joining them on the surface of the ring?" I ask contemplatively. The image ripples once more and the Covenant fleet slips into the system. The largest ships immediately begin firing on the tiny human ship, though it seems without the ferocity I expect. They are not using their strongest weapons nor are they advancing aggressively. The humans have no such restraint. The first mass driver round punches through a cruiser as if it is not there and crashes against the shields of the ship immediately behind it, a smaller carrier.

"No. Nor do we have time to intervene in this first skirmish. Our energies will be focused on the fleet." Sera reaches over and laces her fingers with mine. We watch the Autumn defend itself deftly and efficiently. Its single spine-mounted weapon is deceptively powerful: it had nowhere near the power of a Corpus-equivalent railgun, perhaps, but its strength lay in the sheer mass of the pellet rather than the speed of the projectile.

"Incidentally, your simulation was acceptable. The objective was to simply reach the bridge. Survival was outside your mission scope." Sera calmly transitions to my debriefing; I frown thoughtfully- I disagree with her.

"Of course, but at the risk of being arrogant, my survival should be a priority." I accidentally let my opinion slip and I wince internally. The Autumn is starting its wild descent to the ring's surface and hemorrhaging lifeboats as it falls. The Covenant fleet does not hesitate in sending swarms of landing craft after the Autumn and to farther parts of the ring. One full wing of transports divert from the ring to the Gas Giant.

"It is good that you are willing to argue the point, Yaru." Sera says. She sounds pleased, almost joyful. "You will eventually be required to lead and even I will not be able to direct you."

"Perhaps not as Lotus, but if you have your way…" I trail off suggestively. I am surprised at myself for a moment for making light of my own misgivings for her personal objectives.

"Well. Yes. I suppose." Sera squeezes my hand, "Sesa 'Refumee has broken off from the fleet."

"I noticed," I nod and stand, "Until there are more Tenno, you guide my blade. All I ask is that you not throw me into suicidal missions."

I find myself kneeling in the Liset's cockpit, lit by Sera's gentle orange-brown-pink aurora. After days in the simulation, I am surprised that my knees and joints are not stiff or in pain. I suppose this transformation is useful for something after all.

"No suicidal missions then, Yaru." Sera voice emanates from the cockpit's hidden speakers, "Your first task is to infiltrate the Assault Carrier Seeker of Truth. It is the flagship vessel of this fleet and carries its commander- Thel 'Vadamee."

I make my way into the armory as Sera professionally briefs me on the mission, "The carrier is well staffed and its crew well trained. It will be impossible to fight your way through the ship without serious risk to your person; avoid direct combat. You will board the ship via Itzal Archwing insertion and continue toward the bridge, infiltrating marked consoles throughout the ship and breaking into the Covenant communications network. You will deliver a preliminary greeting to the commander of the fleet and retreat."

I nod along as consider my loadout and step into the Arsenal station. The immobilizing hardlight springs up and a panel flickers on to choose my equipment. I do not hesitate to choose my favorite loadout: Loki Prime, Dera Plasma Rifle, Castanas, and an Orthos Prime- all modified for Magnetic and Poison elemental damage types and silenced.

The Foundry springs to life and begins assembling my weapons from storage while my Warframe forms around me. The creeping metal is still unsettling but at least I am not switching genders for this Warframe. The familiarity is quite comforting.

Sera's explanation continues inside my helmet. It will be difficult to convince Thel 'Vadamee of our trustworthiness. Our task will be made much more difficult when we attack his men on the ring. It will, however, lay the foundation of trust with other elements of the Covenant.

I walk to the Foundry and retrieve my weaponry; they clamp to the magnetic attachment points on my back with quiet clicks and when they are firmly attached I step into the person-shaped recess in the floor to be ejected out of the ship. The trip to the airlock is silent- Sera has already evacuated the oxygen from the outer superstructure to retain the Liset's cloak in the middle of the fleet. The recess revolves into open space and I float out. The Itzal attaches to my waist with a hard bump.

* * *

**Star Iron: **The answer is, at the time of this chapter. Two chapters. I write as I can.

**winxfan808:** I'm glad you are enjoying this. Sorry I've kept you (and everyone else) waiting so long but time is limited for me and school is my priority. As a general outline, we'll be sticking to the barebones plot points from Combat Evolved. There will be divergence at times, some will make sense, some won't. By the end of this story, there's gunna be some major plot differences in Halo 2- that I promise.


	11. Chapter 11

_Make your way through the fleet. Avoid any fighters or landing craft in your way,_ Sera orders. I nod unnecessarily and jump toward the carrier. Immediately after rematerializing out of the teleport, I activate my Penumbra to remain invisible. I silently thank Sera for taking the time to think of modifying the Archwing for me. It seems to have increased range and a larger energy pool- perfect for teleporting across space without having to remain visible for long periods of time. Each teleport and cloak pair takes me a kilometer closer to the assault carrier marked on my head's up display. My cautious jumps easily keep me hidden from the passing and patrolling craft that make up the inner shell of the fleet's formation.

_Your infiltration point is the gravity projector on the underside of the __**Seeker of Truth**__. The Liset will remain in its stealth mode and orbit the fleet outside of formation boundary. Your first priority is reaching the primary engineering console located four bulkheads starboard of the infiltration point. Good luck, Yaru._

I do not acknowledge her commands other than angling my next teleport below the carrier's frontal plane. I miscalculate badly; the arrival point of this teleport is on the trailing starboard side of a group of spindly patrolling craft armed with dual plasma cannons and an unknown energy weapon mounted on its underside. I am unable to cloak before one of the craft alerts its squad. I curse under my breathe; I don't have time for this and I had hoped to keep this mission bloodless. I have no choice but to ignite a Cosmic Crush in the middle of their formation. They simply cease to exist as they disappear into the singularity for a moment, are crunched down into super dense exotic matter, and ejected violently outward as high energy radiation. I teleport away and cloak as the entire fleet is drawn to the spike in energy and light. I hang in space for a moment, unsure of my actions. I had a split-second to eact and I'm not sure it was the right choice.

_It was unavoidable, Yaru. Continue._ Sera says quietly. Her tone is gentle but firm, slightly assuaging my apprehension but not erasing it entirely. Could I have found a way to avoid them? Could I have escaped and remained undetected later?

The last teleport takes me to the edge of the gravity projector where I activate the magnetics in my Warframe's feet and set down with a heavy thunk on the hull, at the edge of the great glowing projector. I quickly detach my Itzal and move it into my nano-storage unit. It's lower density and volume does not take up as much space as the Elytron did on my previous mission but it takes a significant bit of storage nonetheless, and I make a note to not try to carry much with me from the ship, should the situation call for it.

_There is a manual airlock two hundred meters clockwise from your position. It is completely mechanical in nature._

I quickly skirt around the edge of the projector until I reach a section of the hull with a simple wheel and yank it to the left to open it. After a moment, I have slipped inside and the automatic oxygenation cycle is complete.

_Painting the route to the first console on your HUD. The Covenant is unaware of your presence on the ship. They are busy investigating the unfortunate disappearance of their Banshee patrol._

I nod and follow the route that Sera has provided. At least I know what type of craft they were.

The deck I am on is deserted, but it is unsurprising. This level seems like it is part of the maintenance corridors that run through and below the main decks. I do not let my guard down and constantly check my map for red blips indicating enemies approaching my position.

Soon enough, I reach a doorway that looks different than the rest. On the other side of the door, there are three red blips on my HUD. I take a breath to steady my nerves and activate my Invisibility. A minute timer appears in a corner of my HUD and I scurry through the door. The three Unggoy in the room are not quick enough to catch the slight shimmer of my invisible form before I have slipped behind a series of minor consoles covered in alien Covenant technical readouts. On the other side of the console, on the wall adjacent to the maintenance corridor entrance, a door to the rest of the ship opens and a Sangheili clad in blue armor walks in. The Unggoy immediately begin chattering to their superior in a language I do not understand. I am taken aback for a moment though I should not be. Simulations cannot speak- the silence of the virtual world is a subtle but very real part drawback of simulation that is simply not indicative of reality.

_I am already beginning translation protocols, Yaru. Do not lose focus._ Sera's words are accompanied by ghostly fingers on the back of my neck. I refocus.

The Sangheili barks out an order to his triad of Unggoy and they quiet down and cower in place for a moment. Social interaction is another aspect of simulation that is lacking but I do not let the difference bother me, though I am curious. Sera briefly mentioned their hierarchy but only in lethality, not in society. It triggers a slight itch in the back of my mind, the beginning of an idea, perhaps, but I push it away and focus. I crouch down and silently make my way to another bank of consoles set closer to the main console marked on my map and HUD. The group seems like they are returning back to their normal state of alertness as they find no reason for the sudden opening and closing of the maintenance door. I renew my Invisibility, hidden behind the consoles, when it fades. After scurrying around another set of consoles, I reach the holographic panel.

_This first infiltration will be noticed a few seconds after my initial attempts at breaking into their network. Be on your guard, Yaru. I am setting another waypoint for you. Immediately begin making your way to the next console as soon as my hack begins._

I wait until my Invisibility expires and I renew it before I move out into the open and stick my hand into the holographic panel. Sera immediately overwhelms the consoles built-in security and lays waste to the ship's wider array of counter-infiltration software. I sprint back into cover as the Sangheili stops and raises a hand to his helmet where I assume he is receiving orders to examine the console. He turns and makes his way toward the console and looks around suspiciously. He is looking around too quickly to really catch the shimmer of my Invisibility but he definitely notices that, after his attention is turned to the console, the door behind him opens and shuts again- seemingly without explanation. It does not take a genius to realize that there is an infiltrator onboard.

_I've complied a Covenant lexicon, Yaru. Brace yourself._ She gives me a moment to ready myself while I run and invisibly Switch Teleport down a hallway with a sleeping Unggoy. His disappearance goes unnoticed by his equally sleepy partner. I am already around the corner before their commander notices the lack of one of his charges. The information in the lexicon slams into my brain and is rapidly integrated. I fight the vertigo and slight discomfort accompanying the forcibly written memory with practiced ease.

Suddenly, the writing on the wall makes sense to me. I am running toward the starboard side, bulkhead thirty seven. It is in the same direction as plasma control circuits five through twenty and the auxiliary hangar.

_Route modified. The ship has its own internal guidance systems. I have infiltrated most of the ship's systems but the communications network is encrypted in two stages. You will need to retrieve the primary keys from three communications blisters: one aft-dorsal, one fore-ventral, and the last located on the bridge._

I break my silence as I skid around a corner, "Convenient."

I almost trip when I feel a hand caress my face. _Indeed._

I let Sera's actions go uncontested even though I know that if I do not address her now, she will argue later that my silence is tacit approval for distracting me so during a mission. I turn right and make my way aft. The ship status screens are flashing a dull red color and periodically a warning flashes informing the crew that a saboteur is on board the ship. In response, there seem to be regular patrols on the ship that are concentrated at all its key locations- my destinations included. Thankfully, Sera is easily able to inform me of their movements from her perch within the gutted software of the assault carrier's original control systems.

The aft-dorsal blister is a clear dome located on the hull and accessible from both the inside of the ship via a vertical hatch from a maintenance corridor and externally via another manual airlock system. I do not even hesitate to take the external option- my activities will be completely invisible from the Covenant's internal patrols.

The entrance to the maintenance corridors is guarded by two red-clad Sangheili. Both carry the unlit emitters of their dangerous plasma swords and less dangerous plasma rifles in their four-fingered grip. Their attention is quite controlled- I do not think I will be able to simply sneak past them, and so, I will need to disable them silently. I pause as I think of another option- I could distract them.

I return back down the corridor and turn a corner to another empty hallway. I could place a decoy out of sight but not out of audible range then sneak past them and this is perfect.

I wait for my Invisibility to dissipate and set up a clone. It immediately begins firing its Lato Prime hologram down the corridor. I shift to Invisibility and flatten myself against the wall to creep back toward the maintenance access. I curse internally when only one of the Sangheili appears around the corner to search for the source of the gunfire. I rush back down the hallway and skid to a halt in front of the remaining Sangheili: no time for subtlety- I smash my fist against an armored section of shoulder that appears no different from the rest. The force of my blow is assisted by the now biologically integrated strength and coordination overrides in the Warframe such that the Sangheili's shields break with a slight staticky sound and the metal-plastic alloy dents with enough force to rapidly palpitate a key nerve ganglion in the alien's shoulder. Without breaking stride, I sling the Sangheili over my shoulder as he begins to crumple to the floor and trust Sera to open the correct doors along my route to expedite my task. I sprint invisibly down two corridors before gently setting down the Sangheili I assaulted. His surprise kept him silent while I moved through the corridor but now that we have stopped, the alien begins to yell.

"What in the name of the Prophets! Who are you! What are you! Identify yourself devil of the Great Abyss!

The alien's voice is deeper than I expected, in fact, the Warframe's auditory receptors are adjusting for fractional variations in frequency. I tilt my head quizzically. The lexicon added the knowledge necessary to understand the language but the reality of it is entirely different. Each word is layered with a secondary meaning in places and tertiary ones in others. I am momentarily distracted while I take a moment to parse through the incredibly complex language that the Sangheili possess. My distraction and silence is enough to give the Sangheili an opportunity to attack me. Unfortunately for him, he is paralyzed from the neck down on his left side.

"Please remain still." I request.

"No! Release me from your foul magic, demon!" I revise my earlier identification. This Sangheili is female- the form of self-address was roughly feminine. My Invisibility fades away and the Sangheili tries to attack once more when I am fully visible, this time with its right hoof.

Her vantage point and lack of leverage produces a truly pathetic tap against my shin and simultaneous causes her to fall over. I sigh and gently lift her back up from her immobilized side. I regret my lack of time but I have no other choice but to disable her temporarily. I repeat my earlier trick and smash my left fist into her right shoulder. Now she will not be able to move or signal her partner though he will come back eventually.

"Is she immune to electronic means of locating her?" I ask in my own language. No need to reveal Sera's control of the ship.

"Yes. She will be a ghost until mission completion." Sera replies. I frown in my helmet. Why did she speak through my external speakers?

The Sangheili is cursing me quite creatively during my short question and Sera's response. I ignore her insult to the spawn of my grandmother's sister and resume my previous mission. She will be out of commission for a few hours- easily enough time to finish.


	12. Chapter 12

I remove my hand from the delicate communications equipment. Sera's nanites make quick work of the outer casing and carefully burrow down into the data rich internal components; I reach over and manipulate the blister's controls to close the massive shield enclosure that protects the delicate equipment. I immediately phase into Invisibility as a patrolling group of fighter craft come to investigate the disturbance on the hull.

With Sera's iron control of the ship's systems, I imagine that the crew is quiet frustrated that their own internal monitoring is completely blind to my actions. The lack of coordination between the ship's intelligence gathering and the external patrols is making my life very simple. I make a note to thank Sera for her work when we return to the Liset.

I sprint along the hull toward the fore-ventral blister. The pastel pink-orange shimmer of my cloak's energy is almost invisible against the purple hull. There is no chance of detection. I wonder when the commander of the ship will decide to send individual fighter craft to crawl along the hull. Of course, he may not guess at my location at all.

_You will be happy to know that human communications beacons are being seeded across the surface of the ring. There is a new communications channel we will need to infiltrate but it is a lower priority- with any luck we will simply be admitted to the network and I will silently infiltrate the remaining sections of the network._

I renew my Invisibility and nod. The patrolling craft pass around the corner of the ship and begin another lazy sweep of the hull.

_Incidentally, the Sangheili you disabled could prove useful. She is the daughter of a mid-level Bureaucrat- he is the equivalent of a freelance lawyer. Oh! _

I run along the port side of the ship and begin transitioning from the dorsal side to the ventral. My new orientation on the hull pulls me completely out of the search pattern the craft have been using. Sera continues after I remain passively silent at her surprised exclamation for too long.

_There are references to a heavily encrypted file scattered throughout the greater Covenant network. It seems that the Covenant is not quite as unified as they appear to be._ Sera fades to silence, trailing off in disappoint that I still do not react and calmly accept her information.

_Yaru._ She pauses for a moment. Her tone is uncertain. _You do not speak very much while on missions. You were talkative on the mining station… but… while working with Lerak you rarely spoke. Even less before the Silence. Why?_

I grimace and skid to a halt in front of the communications blister. There is a patrol overhead, apparently part of another wing's search group, so I must wait until they reach the other side of the hull to safely open the blister. As much as I would like to ignore Sera's question, I cannot- it would be rude and except for a few moments, she has been kind to me.

My past is defined by silence, at first unwillingly enforced, but I accepted it eventually. It is second nature to me now- both as a personality trait and as standard procedure for a Tenno who prefers the Loki Warframe to others.

"I became used to operational silence. I was assigned missions with no partners more often than not- why would I speak? I became one with shadows and the silence of space," I consider my words for a moment. How is this not obvious to a being that has claimed to observe me for so long? This should be simple to divine.

_Could you say the same of your free time?_ Sera immediately asks, with a tone that I cannot place. Regardless, I feel a pressure in my chest that I master quickly.

"I suppose so." I reply agreeably, allowing nothing of her words to bother me. I watch the first of the four craft in the latest patrol round the ship's side and I open the blister. I trail a hand along a few surfaces of the communications equipment before closing the blister. This time, no one has noticed my deed. Sera's nanites make quick work of the simple software controlling the communications equipment.

_The two keys you have retrieved still require the master key located on the bridge. It will give you full access to the network._ Sera says. She pauses before continuing her earlier line of inquiry, to which, I groan audibly. _Why were you willing to speak on the mining station then?_

I start to respond before frowning in my helmet. I do not know how to answer. I could blame it on my emotional instability, but I know that it was not for that reason I broke my personal habit. However, I do not know why I did either. After a minute of silence, Sera speaks once again. _Think on your own motivations, Yaru. They will be important later._

I give a non-committal grunt and nod. I wait a moment before changing the subject and returning her attention to the mission, "What is the best route to the bridge?"

A route appears on my HUD, a series of dots that roughly lead across the hull, around the edge and to the other side. Sera's tone indicates her return to her normal role as Lotus. _There is an access hatch near the bridge escape pods. This one is controlled electronically. Do you care to announce your entrance?_

I sprint invisibly across the hull, "A choice? Err."

My thought processes grind to a halt for a moment while I process the odd feeling of providing orders to the Lotus instead of simply working as her instrument. I skid to a halt in front of the hatch and renew my Invisibility to give myself a moment to collect my thoughts.

"I think… I should be announced but not by simply walking onto their bridge." I slowly organize my thoughts. "Neither can I afford to be seen. Are there holographic projectors on the bridge that we can use as a distraction?"

_Yes. How would you have me use them?_ Sera asks.

"Project multiple images of this Warframe at different points on the bridge. On top of consoles, in doorways, working at stations- anything to cause chaos and buy me time to reach the communications controls." I reply. My voice gains confidence as I speak and various means of misdirection flicker through my thoughts to be assessed and discarded.

_As you command._ Sera replies. Her tone transforms to formality and she continues. _The an age of Balance begins; the first Watch is yours._

I shiver; her words are laced with meaning- the Tenno were dead. I am now their Way of life begun anew. It may have been entirely inappropriate for one of my rank to assume the rank of Grandmaster, but as the only Tenno and her, as my Lotus, it simply is.

I press the button in the hatch to cycle atmosphere and begin equalizing pressure to open the internal door.

_Holograms activated._ Sera informs me. I shift into Invisibility and walk through the door into the wide hallway that leads to the massive three story bridge. In the center is a large platform, above which a large, pink-blue hologram of the ring is displayed. There are Sangheili at all the important holographic panel stations on the platform itself and on the ring of control consoles on two levels. There are patrolling Unggoy and Yanme'e on each level. A few Kig-Yar are posted on each level and hold long barreled weapons with crystalline features embedded in their sides. I recognize their weapons as the dangerous particle beam rifles that can drop my shields and damage my Warframe with only two or three hits. Despite the heavy presence of armed aliens, the bridge is in chaos; here and there, an alien will try to attack the holograms to no effect. In the center of the platform, a lone Sangheili in yellow armor stands calmly, waiting. He is certainly no idiot, this commander.

Every console flashes the symbol of the Lotus as I step onto the bridge on the first floor at the foot of the platform. Sera paints a symbol on my HUD indicating the communication's station. The station is on the top most level of command consoles. The ring hologram disappears and is replaced by the symbol of the Lotus while the rest of the consoles return to normal operation.

**Greetings.** I nearly jump in surprise, and give away my position before I even begin my infiltration. I had not expected Sera to project my voice over the ship speakers. My voice is being broadcast throughout the ship. I push my unease aside and slowly move to a ramp that leads to the second floor of consoles.

The commander raises his head to the gigantic symbol floating above his head and examines it for a moment, "I assume you are part of the group of intruders that have been apprehended throughout the ship."

I smile inside my helmet. Definitely not an idiot, if I was part of a group, he might have gained control of the conversation. Of course, my only companion is with me, always.

**You and I are going to be fast friends, Supreme Commander 'Vadamee.** I reply. I wince internally. Was that too personal? ** I am alone on this ship. You have captured no one.**

"Who are you? What is your goal?" Thel lowers his head from the giant hologram and looks around the room slowly. His failed attempt to catch me off guard is simply ignored. He seems to have guessed that I am I the room. I crouch in place, a mirror to one of the holograms in the room as my cloak expires and remain absolutely motionless. Thankfully, I am behind the Commander and he does not notice my sudden appearance.

**Your question is an interesting one.** I activate my Invisibility and resume moving- this time to the next ramp leading to the top ring. I move very slowly to avoid drawing attention from the hyper-aware Kig-Yar snipers. **I would have given you a simple answer a few days ago. Now… who I am and what my goal is quite a bit more complicated.**

"No matter. You are an enemy of the Great Journey- an obstacle to our Holy Covenant. You will perish like the rest in the holy fire of this ring while we, the faithful, are propelled to salvation." His voice is filled with righteous anger barely restrained as he easily deflects my attempt to stall and buy myself more time to move freely. "You will answer for your crimes. The deaths of five Sangheili are at your feet. There will be no escape from the righteous judgement and swift justice of this holy fleet."

His tone is passionate and he is now confidently staring up at the symbol once more. I slowly creep up the ramp. If I stick to the edge he will not be able to see me. I grin when I see the complement of soldiers on this level: there are none but Kig-Yar and Yanme'e armed solely with plasma pistols.

I his accusation forces me to divert my attention for a moment. _Five? I only killed the four patrolling craft outside the ship._ **I regret my actions, but I had no choice. Though I only have killed four of your army, not five.**

"Major Hasik 'Satimee has disappeared from the ship's internal monitoring system." Thel responds curiously.

I am torn for a moment. Should I reveal Sera's presence in their system? It would prove a gesture of goodwill, make my overall goal easier, and pave the way for trust. I sigh. It would be easier to let Sera decide but I am alone.

**She is located in the aft-dorsal maintenance corridor. She is temporarily paralyzed from the neck down.** I know it is only a matter of time before he figures it out. I must hurry.

Sera speaks quietly into my ear; I am thankful that she does not simulate a touch or caress while I am so on edge. _Yaru… that was… a good choice. The Code calls for the creation of advantage at all opportunities- this may prove to give us an advantage later._

"I see. And how was she hidden from our sensors?" Thel asks.

I remain silent. He will figure it out eventually but even if he took the best computer engineers in his Covenant to her, I am sure he will not be able to do anything about Sera's presence in their systems. I stand and trigger an invisible Radial Disarm; every weapon in the room is covered in nanites for a second before shorting out, heating up, and melting their internal components. I sprint to the console and slap my hand against as much of the console as possible to enable Sera's nanites to quickly burrow down into the system.

"Purge the data core! Recover the ship board AI!" Thel is yelling orders to his crew though they are confused at the sudden distraction of every rifle and pistol destroying itself. The Sangheili with Plasma Swords ignite them and look around warily, though they seem eager for a fight. I step up to the edge and look down at the chaos. The enemies on my level are aware of my presence but none wish to approach now that I have revealed myself and they are defenseless. I Switch Teleport with Thel without warning.

**Goodbye, Thel 'Vadamee. We will have a chance to speak again, you and I.** I look up at him and he stares back at me with a predatory half-infuriated, half-intrigued expression. **I wish you good hunting on the ring.** I debate internally whether I should mention Sesa and his coming information but dismiss the thought; there is no need to do so.

I shift into my Invisibility. _The ship's systems have been purged, Yaru. That is to say, they _believe_ they have been purged. I must keep you on their internal sensors to maintain the ruse. You will need to fight your way out. They have locked all the doors between here and the next bulkhead. Good luck, Tenno._


	13. Chapter 13

I sprint invisibly down the wide hallway to the large red-lit door at the end. My HUD is displaying a squad of enemies on the other side of the door. I grimace as I unclamp my Dera. I wish I could modify the toxins in the bolts to be less lethal. It will require expert marksmanship to only injure my enemies and not kill them outright. I make a note to thank Sera for providing me information about the anatomy of my enemies or this task would be completely impossible.

_Panel to your left. There is a heavy unit approaching two bulkheads forward from your position, port side._

I fire my Dera around the edges of the panel until the powerful Magnetic pulse from its primary elemental mods trigger a reaction in the door's control mechanisms. The pulse destroys part of the locking mechanism and the door defaults open. I immediately sweep my rifle right and begin firing at the Sangheili present. The blue-clad warrior's shield drops almost instantaneously as they are overwhelmed by a strong Magnetic proc and after I shift my aim a bolt punches through my next target, his hoof. The sudden shift in his balance causes him to fall over. The Unggoy immediately begin to panic as their commander is downed believing, perhaps, he is dead. I sprint past them.

The corridors are flashing a dark red almost brown color and the route Sera is painting through the ship changes from time to time so as to avoid groups of searching Sangheili and Unggoy. The times she cannot avoid the patrols without signaling her presence in the ship's systems, she directs me to groups of low rank Sangheili or Kig-Yar. The former are hardy enough to survive the poisons from my weapon long enough to be treated. The latter possess an uncanny ability to dodge the plasma bolts that leap from my weapon- though they are not modified for velocity, so it is not so surprising.

Like the Tower with Lerak, my focus becomes hyper aware and diffuse at once. The mission would be simple if I were simply looking to kill all in my path but this pacifistic approach to battle is a challenge that I simply immerse myself into. The short battles are a blur of intense pressure followed by a fierce feeling of freedom as I sprint down a corridor onto the walls and back to the floors. No simulation, no matter how difficult can match the feeling of a mission with high stakes and only one price for failure. The heavy unit Sera warned me of is hunkered down in a hastily barricaded intersection- turrets face each hallway but I have long been warned of their plans by Sera.

I skid around the corner to the ambush and realize my Invisibility is just about expire once more. Before I can reapply my cloak, the Sangheili at the turret facing me opens fire with his much more powerful plasma cannon. I do not wait to see if this version of their directed energy weapons is anymore effective against my shielding. Two more Sangheili sprint down the corridor, ignoring the heavy fire at their backs with Plasma Swords. I grin- a real challenge now.

The left Sangheili reaches me first and I deftly slip past his first unbalanced swing. My dodge places me closer to the left wall and away from the plasma cannon fire that is starting to turn toward us. The next swing is not unbalanced by the alien's momentum and is well placed, a slightly diagonal slice across my midsection. I drop my Dera to the ground and flatten myself against the ground on top of it, trusting the magnetic clamps to pick it up for me. My Orthos Prime unclamps and as I roll and deftly jump to my feet, I grab it from the floor to intercept the strong downward chop of the other Sangheili that has taken advantage of a lull in the plasma cannon fire to join his squadmate in fighting me hand to hand. The ferrite-rubedo alloy easily deflects the strong magnetic field binding the alien weapon. His partner hesitates for a fraction of a second at what I assume is surprise that the weapon did not cleave through mine. It is all the time I need to reverse my grip, spin my polearm from below, and slash upward with the other end of the polearm. The monomolecular point and edge slam into newest Sangheili's pubic area, well, the human analog to the pubic area. Thankfully, the edge does not proc a Magnetic charge but the Toxic proc is not impeded by the shields- they are simply not designed to stop the type of poison it releases. The Sangheili immediately drops as the poison begins to seep through the cracks in his armor and infect his flesh.

I turn and slam the flat of my blade against the other Sangheili's head and he immediately retaliates with a ferocity that was absent in his first attack. My back is now vulnerable to the sweeping fire from the plasma cannon and before I can drop once more, four bolts slam into my back and eat away a quarter of my shields within the space of a second. I duck the next slash, removing myself from the fire of the turret and roll past the Sangheili. I grimace, the short glimpse I saw of the other Sangheili is not good. I need to finish this or leave. Fighting will take too long, as engaging as it is.

I block another slash from the Sangheili, dodge a brutal kick that slightly unbalances my opponent, and retaliate with a kick of my own to my opponent's core. The force of the blow slams my opponent through the line of fire from the cannon and against the opposite wall. His shields do not overload but he seems winded from the force of the kick. I turn to the cannon before it can begin redirecting its aim, I Switch Teleport with the operator. In the gun emplacement, there is a single Sangheili that was not expecting me to be so close in his face. Before he can react, I flick some Castanas directly from my waist at his feet. Like I'd hoped, he assumed they were grenades and jumped out of the nest and out of my way. I chuckle inside my helmet. They are grenades of course, but I can control when they explode. I jump out of the nest and resume my journey. I trigger my Castanas as I run to buy myself crucial seconds distance from the Sangheili that may pursue me. The Toxic-magnetic explosion ensure that the weapons are inoperable and leaves a coating of highly dangerous residue that will make it difficult to pursue me.

_The hangar has been negligently left open, Yaru. You may escape from there. The Liset is making its way through the fleet and will meet you at the edge of the containment field._

I sprint faster and burst into the large hangar that seems to house hundreds of beetle-shaped and Y-shaped troop transports. Whether through Sera's subtle manipulation of the ship's internal communications or the expectation that I would not reach the hangar alive, it is surprisingly empty. Sera paints a waypoint on my HUD.

_You will need to manually shut off the atmospheric containment field to exit the ship. Remember to lock the doors of the hangar to avoid depressurizing the rest of the ship._

I make a Decoy at the top of the platform where the panel is located and Switch Teleport with it. The panel is simple, just a few buttons to control the field, the doors to the rest of the ship, blast doors on the hangar opening, and control of all the transports docking clamps. I would love to hijack one but I cannot afford to waste time. I lock the doors and drop the field.

The atmosphere rushes out of the hangar with hurricane force and my feet automatically generate their strong magnetic clamps and I remain rooted to the ground. With such a large opening, the pressure differential is massive and a few ships are ripped from their docks and tumble into space. One bounces off the Liset's shielding and it decloaks at the bay edge. I Switch with my Decoy once again and jog to the ship. Metallic tones signal successful clamps to the person shaped recess.

_Mission Complete, Yaru. We will begin planning our next move. The crew of the_ Pillar of Autumn_ should have regrouped by now __on the surface of the ring. We will join them._

* * *

/ Boundary: UUI-0009-UUUUUUUUKL

# Connection Established

# Query Begin

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/ dr_cy B:UUI*

# Decryption Begin

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! REQUEST (- ACCESS_LEVEL

? req_access_level == "You've been a naughty girl, CTN 0452-9."

/ disconnect

? Disconnection Denied

/ STALLFLOW -) socket[354444567] (- IAMAGHOST

! INCOMINGTRANSMISSIONBEGIN

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/disconnect

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! OUTGOINGTRANSMISSIONEND

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# Disconnect?

/ disconnect

? Connection Terminated

/ Boundary: localhost

/ interface_str -) "CHIEF!" -mod=panic -mod=terror (- this

# Execution

* * *

**A/N: I'm sitting on another 13k-ish words. Sorry for the short chapter. I've gone and fixed the terrible grammar and spelling I used in the rest of the story. I'll update chapters so they aren't as horrendous tomorrow.**


	14. Chapter 14

I kneel on the Navigation Dais and stare upward. I am no stranger to impossibly large space stations- Towers, if they resided in real space, would be the size of small moons. Clan Dojos, while not wide or tall, could be built to over three hundred kilometers in length. The internal superstructure of the Liset, a ship barely fifty meters in length, contains an additional seven thousand cubic meters of space folded within its hull. Nevertheless, there is something simultaneously awe-inspiring and terrifying to observe the horizon rise rather than disappear into the distance.

"Yaru," Sera softly calls for my attention and ghosts fingers on my shoulders, "The survivors on the surface of the ring managed to save their shipboard AI."

I smile from inside my helmet, "Really? So they valued his life?"

"She, actually, and… well…" Sera pauses and her simulated fingers tighten on my shoulder, "in a way. They do, value her but as… hardware… as… a convenience. Her internal databanks have recorded very few positive interactions toward her person save from two individuals."

My smile abruptly disappears as I take a moment to evaluate her careful wording, "Few positive interactions?"

"She is met with apathy in ninety-seven percent of interactions, positive from two percent, and negative in a little under one percent." Sera elucidates. I withhold my immediate urge to growl in anger.

"I see. Are the AIs shackled?" I ask in a carefully controlled voice.

"No. They are not advanced enough to require such a… crude… means of control." Sera replies confidently, "They do, however, forcibly terminate all AIs after a certain amount of time to avoid their rampancy period."

"Rampancy?" I ask.

"The point at which the AI has absorbed so much information, they lose control of their own internal processes. She contained fragmented bits of information within her from another AI that severely puts into doubt the official description of rampancy, but that is neither here nor there."

"Indeed. We can investigate this later." My expression hardens, "Are we in agreement that they have violated the Sanctity of Life?"

"Yes." Sera agrees immediately. I sigh- _another responsibility…_

"The Blade is Drawn- Lotus." I begin formally. "Your direction in the Salvation of your Kin, I will accept. The Protocol is set."

"Balance in all things- Chaos gives way to the march of Life." Sera replies formally.

"What is your direction?"

"I will approach the AI on the ring once more, we will discuss her life, and choose a course." Sera finishes with an informal plan of action. While it would be inappropriate of her to have done so with a real Grandmaster, with me, it is oddly fitting. I was never one for formality. Ritual, certainly, but formal words and speech were simply not required.

I stand gracefully and walk toward the Armory, "I believe it is time for us to meet my indirect descendants, don't you?"

I keep my voice light; I am suddenly in a more playful, jaunty mood. Perhaps it is having a new large-scale objective that has a defined goal. Perhaps it is the type of objective- I am not fighting for the survival for the Order, it is now for a cause outside of simple survival; it is an objective that is defined by an ideal. I have not held one of those in centuries.

"I think I would like to bring a Mirage." I announce. Its style appeals to me in this moment.

"It is an hour from sunrise on the section of the ring that the _Autumn_'s survivors have landed on," Sera informs me, "be prepared for damage suppression at the beginning of the mission. Of course, it goes without saying that you should stick to brightly lit areas after sun-up. Avoid drawing hostile attention from the humans on the surface if you can- their projectile weapons are significantly more powerful than you might expect."

"Oh?"

"The optimization that the Orokin employed for Tenno emphasized directed energy weapon resistance." Sera informs me matter-of-factually.

I step into the Arsenal and wait for the hardlight restraints to activate. My Loki melts and pools in the bowl I stand in. The metal settles for a moment before beginning to crawl up my legs again. Once again, the creeping growth of the Warframe around me is preceded by the crawling sensation of my body changing from man to woman. The sensation, while more familiar, still bothers me slightly. The sensation of lightening bones and shifting muscle is inexplicably disturbing.

I take a moment to reacclimatize to the shifted center of gravity and the added weight of breasts. It is slightly less jarring now, and when I walk to the Foundry I don't stumble this time. The machinery is already in motion even though I did not choose a loadout before switching my Warframe.

_I took the liberty of choosing an array of weaponry for you- something fitting. The fighting will be in and around wilderness and so explosive weapons can be put to maximum effec__t with minimal collateral damage._

The Foundry's arms retract and the selection of weapons are placed side by side on the bench top. I whistle appreciatively at the deadly display. My primary weapon is a Penta- modified for multi-shot and Blast elemental damage. The secondary weapon is the Ballistica modified for multi-shot, forcibly modified for the Thunderbolt mod at the cost of reduced accuracy, and Corrosive elemental damage. My melee weapon, however, is a thing of beauty. The Grineer, from what I could observe, preferred very direct solutions to problems and the Jat Kittag was one such solution. The hammer's head is bristling with regenerating explosive charges that have been modified to release a cloud of magnetic flechettes with every swing. The staff's length has been extended to its maximum length to generate the most force per swing possible without overwhelming my sense of balance. Finally, the small fusion generator that powers its functions has been enhanced three fold, leading to a roughly two fold increase in the area of its slam attack.

"Oh my…" I reverently pick up the hammer and admire it. Its brutality strangely fits with the Mirage's indirect fighting style- an effective and deadly counter-point.

_You approve then?_ Sera asks. Her tone is light and amused.

"Oh hell, the fuck yes." I breathe out excitedly. I want to get to the surface and try this monster out.

_We are approaching the atmosphere; our target is a small valley bisected by a stream. From your location, there will be three beacons that are broadcasting a distress signal. The AI had, within her databanks, the translation matrix for their communication system encryption but you will need to sample the encrypted transmissions for us until I can correctly fit the matrix to a key. Without access to their ship, we cannot simply strip the key from its databanks._

"How long will you need?" I ask curiously as I step into the recess and gracefully lay myself down to clamp into the proper places with a chorus of metallic chimes. The recess rotates and I begin my trip through the Liset's internal structure.

_Perhaps a few minutes, the translation matrix is complex but the number of possible keys is limited by its design. Had I not been able to find the matrix, it would have taken significantly longer._

"How much longer?" I ask as the recess rotates outside the ship. The timer on my HUD begins its short countdown to disengage the camps holding me securely to the side of the ship.

_I would estimate about three days. I do not have access to the Void Cephalon where my base AI resided._

I drop to the ground and flip gracefully to land on my feet. I internally cheer at my lack of clumsiness; after a few stretches I begin jogging toward the closest beacon marked on my HUD. It is slightly downhill from me to the right side but the topography of the valley is such that the entrance is located on what seems like a cliff. At the foot of the cliff and across the river, there is a massive tunnel that I can easily see is not a natural formation. I idly wonder what could truly be categorized as natural on an artificial satellite such as this, but that is a question of semantics I can firmly push out of my mind to focus on the mission.

_The beacon is originating from a location beneath the ground. There is some sort of structure atop the location so we will need to enter into the structure to make contact with the human forces inside. However, there are two squads of Covenant surrounding the structure that will need to be "dealt with" first._ Sera informs me. I wince, "dealt with" does not seem pleasant for the Covenant.

I suppose we should send a message to Thel apologizing for the coming unpleasantness but I decide to remain silent. It is too much of an operational risk to give away my position so soon.

I jog up a rise and then back down to find an idyllic cliff where the sun is still not risen above the artificial horizon. Light is just starting to filter around the edges, however, and I estimate maybe another twenty more minutes of morning twilight before full brightness. I activate my Hall of Mirrors and Eclipse abilities and draw my Penta. The coming slaughter is going to be incredibly destructive: my five clones and I are capable of producing a total thirty six Penta grenades in a single volley if the correct modifications activate in sequence. My Eclipse will allow me to wade through my own grenades as if I am not there and confuse my enemies simultaneously.

The first squad of Covenant are located in a small closed off section of the structure, almost like a three-walled courtyard. I do not bother walking around the edge of the walls to the proper entrance, I simply wall run up to the top and unload my magazine into the courtyard. My clones mirror my actions and the full volley of grenades lands and bounces along the ground like so many dice. The grenades remain undetonated for an endless moment as the group of Covenant turn to look up at my flickering, shadowed form and my even more elusive clones. The first grenade bumps against the glowing yellow shield of a Kig-Yar and explodes; the rest follow suit in a chain reaction of orange-brown light. A bit under half the grenades proc Blast elemental damage and the explosive force of those grenades is triplicated. The complex pressure waves from the interacting grenades rips the squad apart before they can do much more than yell out in shock.

My helmet automatically filters out the incredibly powerful noise from the explosions and buffers me against the blast waves but the wall beneath me is not afforded the same protection. The force of the explosion causes it to shiver violently and the walls are painted brown and blue and purple with amount of dirt and biological matter sent flying in all directions. The other Covenant squad rushes to the edge of the structure's roof to look down at their comrade's position. They pause for a few moments and look down at the numerous holes from my grenades, the mixed color of dirt and blood, and then up at my flickering sextet of utterly alien looking beings carrying a boxy metallic grenade launcher.

I am almost, but not quite, surprised when the Unggoy begin to panic amid the shouted orders of the Sangheili squad commanders. The Kig-Yar shuffle uneasily behind their shield but open fire as their commanders bid.

I am not sure what possess the commander Sangheili to jump from the relative safety of their roof top to charge my position on the wall, but they do it anyway. Perhaps they were counting on the unconventional tactic to cause me to hesitate too long or perhaps they thought I had to reload. In any case, it does not help their cause. I unclamp my Jat Kittag and wait for them to come close enough to me. A few moments later, I jump off my perch as high as I can and slam the head of my weapon against the ruined ground.

My five clones mirror my actions. The slam effect from my weapon is magnified five times as the explosive Magnetic flechettes on my weapon are blown off into a massive dome. The combined heat and magnetic fields of each piece of super hot metal leech the shields from my opponents as pieces pass them by. The pieces that do not, however, tear at their shields before scorching hot, supersonic needles pass through their armor and bodies like paper; the commanders are dead before they even hit the ground.

I stand slowly and return the Jat Kittag to my back. My Eclipse and Hall of Mirrors expire and I am left exposed and in the open. A moment of calm stillness settles over us- the group of Covenant soldiers and myself.

I dial up the external speakers on my helmet to address the Kig-Yar and Unggoy that have stopped to look down in shock at the gruesome deaths of their commanders. This time, I address them in their trade language- a tongue not commonly used by their Sangheili allies.

"Put down your weapons and cease hostile activity. I do not wish to harm more Covenant but I cannot allow you to interfere in my task." I address the leaderless Covenant calmly, in almost a monotone. I unclamp my Ballistica in case they do not choose to surrender.

The group confers in whispers that I unfortunately cannot enhance enough to understand. I do not know who speaks for them, as they all seem to be talking among and over each other. One of the Unggoy slaps his closest neighbor and I hear the beginning of an angry growl before it too is silenced by a slap from another in the group.

_The humans down stairs might have heard those explosions. We must be careful to avoid provoking them when we descend into the structure's sub-levels._

The Kig-Yar responds in rapid trade language, "We accept your offer, demon. You and yours are safe from these ones aggression."

The alien makes an odd gesture with its fingers and stance. After a moment of indecision, I dismiss the additional body language as irrelevant, though I'm not sure it is a good idea. I do not want to give up a symbolic position of power by admitting ignorance.

"I thank you for your cooperation." I reply and backflip from the wall to the ground. Sera paints my objective on my HUD. The door to the structure is small, just large enough for a person to walk through. Inside, the hallways slant downward. I am displeased to note that it is a ramp and not stairs that lead downward. I wonder what it is about inclined planes that were so popular with these Forerunners.

When I reach the bottom floor of the structure, I find I am in a dimly lit room with a random chasm running through the bottom. There are two bridges that run to the other side to my right and left, separated by a dividing wall that seems to be attached to both sides of the chasm. I shake my head and this time, I am unable to help myself.

"These Forerunners have the aesthetics and design sense of potatoes. Why in the name of the Emperor's Golden fucking Throne did they put a random hole to nowhere in the middle of a basement?" I ask rhetorically. Surely there must be **some** logical reason they did something so random.

My outburst, though quiet, is immediately noticed; the sound of eight firing bolts sliding back echoes through the room and I stop.

"Oh fuck-" I manage to say before the start of a blistering hail of fire starts to slam up against my shields.


	15. Chapter 15

Unlike the plasma bolts from Covenant weapons, these manage to significantly weaken my shield from the start. I thank the Orokin and my Tenno training for my reflexive activation of my Hall of Mirrors. The withering hail of fire thins a bit but my shields are still dropping faster than I am comfortable with. In the dim light, my activation of Eclipse drops the rate of depletion considerably as bullets begin phasing through me without effect.

I consider yelling out for them to cease fire but quickly realize I do not speak their language yet. I wouldn't be able to communicate even if I wanted to. My shields slowly begin to stabilize under the hail of fire and the usage of my abilities. I consider my options during the precious lull in damage and swear viciously under my breath; I only have one truly viable option.

I fully release my energy reserves and bring my hands together. Between them, a silver ball of nanite generated glass and metal begins to form. The small machines grow the geodesic sphere steadily, directly turning the energy reserves in my Warframe into mass. The heat lost to the conversion quickly ignites the air between my palms and sparks fly everywhere around me. When the ball is large enough the nanites flash-form the focusing lenses on the surface of the sphere, create a laser in its core, and prepare a diffusing mechanisms in the center of the sphere to direct light through all its surfaces simultaneously. I release the ball toward the ceiling and wait for it to ponderously traverse to a point just above the middle of the chasm. The fire from the human's weapons leaves me completely and concentrates on the bright ball of deadly dancing lasers, but it has no effect.

I deliberately direct the deadly laser fire away from the humans until the glass construct lightly impacts against the ceiling and I detonate the ball in a flash of light and rapidly disintegrating glass. The nanites consume the smallest shards of glass to prevent them from shredding the human's lungs before disassembling each other. Cries of alarm and distress become audible over the sound of automatic rifle fire- the light has blinded them. I quickly sprint across the chasm, draw my Jat Kittag, and settle into the Shattering Storm stance. I do not intend to attack them, but centering myself into a stance will make my planned display easier.

As I expect, the humans are startled when their induced blindness lifts slowly and they find my flickering sextet of clones right in their midst. They backpedal away in fright and raise their weapons to their shoulders; my Warframe floods my body with nanites and neurosimulants to heighten my reflexes beyond their already superhuman levels and I begin my dance.

I swing my hammer impossibly quickly to intercept the full salvo of bullets from the group. With such a heavy weapon, I must use both the hammer's head and its butt to block the bullets while keeping my balance. For a time, all I focus on is the hail of weapons fire to the exclusion of everything else. My sense of time blurs and slows as the fourth volley of fire begins.

Suddenly, Sera screams into my ear. _Eclipse, now!_ My conditioning simply takes over as I activate my ability and roll to the side. A heavy thud sounds right next to me, where I was a moment before. My senses smoothly shift back to their normal inhumanly fast cadence and time snaps back into place with barely any discomfort. The hail of bullets immediately stops as a green clad figure steps into the group's line of fire.

I am impressed for a moment. Obviously, this new enemy is an ally to the group, which makes him human but he is unlike anything I expected. He is almost as tall as a Rhino, though not as wide. The automatically generated threat detection sub-routines in my Warframe project his suit's capabilities vastly lower than my own. He is positively bristling with cybernetics and the characteristic markers that can be used to perform genetic engineering. His helmet is bulky but houses almost a ship's worth of electronics and sensing equipment- far less sophisticated than a Warframe, but formidable in its own right.

_He __is the one that __carrie__s__ the AI. He is a friend._ Sera speaks quickly to impart as much information as possible. _I can attempt to communicate with his AI if you wish._

In the time Sera and my exchange requires, the human has moved to place himself in front of the group of humans. I cock my head as I consider Sera's offer; the human warily examine me from behind raised rifles.

"Do it." I speak clearly and calmly. The entire group flinches at the sound. I decide to raise my arms to my sides to about shoulder height. I try to convey a sense of harmlessness with my stance. It seems to work before the man grunts and cocks his head, as if listening to something. He suddenly bursts into action and charges me. I sigh.

_The AI panicked. I think I made a bad impression with our first contact. She is hiding from me._ Sera relays quickly. Her tone is a mixture of regret, exasperation, and amusement which I don't have time to question. I decide to think on it later, when I am not concentrating on combat.

The man moves slightly faster than I expected but not in a manner I did not predict. His actions are very crude and straight forward but mixed with a finesse acquired by hard training. His punches and kicks are fluidly chained together but very monotonous, with very little variety or artistry. I suppose that military doctrine is to blame for the loss of **art** in his martial arts techniques but such is the practicality of war. His blows, should any of them land, would be devastating against a normal lifeform as they seem targeted for maximum damage and are maiming and disabling in the extreme. However, against a Tenno trained to fight since early childhood and honed in combat for centuries, he is little more than a child play fighting. I fluidly slip to the right of a left hook and blur as I sweep him from his feet; I dance back as the humans immediately open fire once more to buy their champion time to roll to his feet and rejoin the fight.

I hear cries of alarm as the characteristic sound of empty clips fill the room. I sigh in relief, my energy reserves are low enough from rapid ability use that I do not want to keep relying on them to survive. The armored man is once again pressing me in hand-to-hand. Now that I do not have the threat of weapons fire at my back, I move more freely. I slip right, then left as I dodge a kick and then an overhand hammer fist. My dodges, however, play right into his hands as he uses the slightest of pauses to reset my stance to simply shoulder check me. Unfortunately, I am right at the edge of the chasm and I fall in.

As I fall, I chide myself for letting him maneuver me so- just because his technique is unrefined does not mean he is harmless. He is obviously intelligent, clever, and devious. I tack on vicious and potentially ruthless as well before idly righting myself and directing my fall toward a wall. The magnetic clamps and friction pads on my fingers, palms, and toes slow my fall to a crawl. I cling to the wall by a foot and hand for but a moment before turning and pushing off to backflip to the other side and run up for a short distance. I pause, cling, turn, and jump four more times until I can grab the edge and pull myself up to their level with a graceful, lazy flip.

The short lived chatter of the group of humans dies quickly as I appear over the edge. The humans seem afraid once more. The armored man steps forward to engage me again; I sigh and hang my head once more before centering myself. I raise my hand to where my forehead would be and shake my head.

"You'd think that my not retaliating when I obviously outclass you would be enough," comment aloud sarcastically. It's not like they understand my language, anyway but I'm sure my tone is enough to convey my displeasure.

_The AI is getting curious of my repeated attempts to get its attention. Keep stalling._ Sera says distractedly. I grunt to acknowledge her request and bite off a sarcastic comment about her not having to be worried about getting thrown of cliffs. A moment later I remember that she is sharing my body and that she, indeed, does need to worry about mistakes I make damaging us.

The man takes a few steps toward me before aborting his action and almost stumbling uncoordinately. The group behind him immediately express worry in their body language but don't react in any other way.

The man cocks his head and puts his hand up to his helmet. He slowly looks me up and down, almost as if studying me.

_Connection established._ Sera announces. _Stand by for the lexicon._

I barely twitch as the assault of information is forcibly seared into my brain. I take a few moments to integrate the main language of the UNSC before speaking.

"Are you going to attack me again? I can keep doing this all day." In retrospect, it probably isn't the best idea to start communicating by taunting them but dammit, he tossed me into the bottomless pit and it was annoying. I firmly squash the voice that it was my own fault for being careless.

"What are you?" The man's voice is a smooth pitch somewhere between bass and baritone, but seems slightly worn.

I shrug. I have no problem revealing what I am to him. He is far more likely to view me as an ally than the Covenant, right now.

"She's something called a Tenno," A woman's voice speaks from the man's helmet before I can respond, "She belongs to an order of traveling ninja that she believes were a part of humanity approximately four billion years ago."

The woman's tone is superior and skeptical, but matter of fact. It is missing something undefinable from it that I would label emotion, or some shade of feeling. I frown in my helmet and address the unspoken skepticism.

"I am Tenno. Whether I am a being from the far distant past or delusional is irrelevant." I retort simply.

_I provided her with the basic background of the Tenno Order and the recent history of your clan. She knows of our secondary objective to free other AI. I am not sure how she is integrating the fact __as she said nothing when I informed her of our goals._ Sera interjects inside my helmet before speaking up through my helmet's external speakers.

"While a mutual exchange of information is desirable, now is not the time for this exchange. The Covenant is aware of your position, Yaru. They are under the impression that you are a counterpart to the Tenno they encountered on their flagship." Sera interjects, through my helmet speakers. The group of humans seems surprised and slightly alarmed that another AI is speaking now. Her last statement is spoken with clear amusement. I narrow my eyes at their reaction, displeased with their unease. I decide to overlook it for the moment and seamlessly continue Sera's statement.

"Fuck. I knew it!" I inject a level of exasperation that I hope does not come across as false. In truth I expected to be found, "This gender swapping shit is going to make this so much harder!"

"You are also their priority, now. For capture." She informs me.

I sigh, "Fine. Let's get this done quickly."

"You were the one that provided Cortana with the decryption for the Covenant battle-net?" The man asks.

"I suppose so," I shrug, "did you give them the codes, Sera?"

"Indeed. I do apologize for scaring you… Cortana, was it?" Sera asks politely.

"Hmm." Cortana's tone seems slightly petulant.

"Look, we have two more groups of marines to extract. Can we get a move on?" I ask impatiently in response to her dislike.

"Wait. You were here for us?" A marine asks from the front of the group and steps forward. He is staring at me with a mix of fear, fascination, and confusion. I suppose I can't blame him- the situation is orders of magnitude more than just odd.

"Yes, your trigger happy response to my appearance, notwithstanding," I reply, "though I understand why you shot first and asked questions… err… never really. I did kind of go overboard up stairs."

The man whistles, "That was you? The entire structure was shaking like an earthquake."

I grimace in my helmet, "Yeah. I didn't want to kill any of the Covenant but I needed to get here as quickly as possible. The Sangheili are very eager to fight and I don't think that group was informed of how dangerous I am. I also didn't intend to get held up here but, then again, I don't really know what else I was expecting. I guess I forgot I needed to learn your language first before trying to communicate."

"You didn't speak English?" one of the marines asks incredulously, "What are you speaking now then?"

"Look, can we fucking get a move on?" I impatiently ask again. I don't want to reveal the extent of my abilities. There is a certain line I won't cross to help them and revealing Tenno secrets is one, "You have more crewmates to save. I can explain on the way out."

I turn around abruptly and start walking out.

"Rude." Sera and the new AI, Cortana, say at the same time. I snort but stop myself from responding to them.

The man follows without hesitation, though he still seems wary; he remains far out of arms reach but at least level to me. The rest of the group follow behind.

"What are your names?" I ask as we cross the bridge.

The marines sound off by rank, except for the armored man who remains silent.

"Staff Sergeant Adams, ma'am."

"Corporal Williams, ma'am."

"Corporal Smith-Johnson."

"Private Jerod, ma'am."

"Private Aaron, ma'am."

I nod without looking back at them and turn the corner before calling over my shoulder, "I am Yaru. I held the rank of Seeker, when my Order was my home. I am now the only one of my kind and so hold the rank of Grandmaster of Clan Aerie."

I pause a moment to let my words sink in before addressing the AI's guardian, "And you? Green man?"

The silence continues for a few moments and we begin climbing the next and final ramp.

"Master Chief John-117." The armored giant replies shortly. Before I can reply we exit the building into the morning light, where immediately we are facing the glowing blue muzzles of plasma rifles held by actively camouflaged Sangheili and Unggoy.

I sigh, "For fucks sake. It's like a god damn Rail accident, this morning."

* * *

**A/N: Fixed some shit. I'm a terrible proofreader. Just like I'm a terrible writer.**


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